not yet titled
by Louise Malfoy
Summary: Friendship and determination play a big part in the plot line which has many twists in itself. Will Katie bag Sam? Will she save the day? Will Voldemort return? Read and find out! About Harry and friends' children.
1. An Improper Use Of Magic

**_Disclaimer:_** I do not own anything that you recognise, from the small town of Ottery St. Catchpole to the amazing school of Hogwarts it all belongs to the great JKR herself! I do however own all the original characters, situations, ideas and descriptions! 

**NB.** Everything in this story is present and correct at the time I wrote it. Some bits may seem a bit irrelevant or strange, but trust me, there are some people out there that know what I'm talking about! And make sure you review! This is my first fanfic so I need as much help as I can get! 

Mr and Mrs Lovegood-Davill lived in the small village of Ottery St. Catchpole. They had a beautiful daughter named Katie and had just witnessed the new arrival of baby Devonn into the family. Their daughter Katie was incredibly bright for her age and was continuously writing new articles for the family magazine The Quibbler. Baby Devonn, though only 1 month old, also showed the same amazing intelligence. Despite the fact he was only a few weeks in age he had alreadly learnt to walk and talk. Mrs Lovegood-Davill, more commonly known as Luna, had met her husband Daniel in her 7th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After graduating Hogwarts, Luna had immediately taken up the position of editor for The Quibbler, the magazine that had become a family heirloom. As fascinating as the Lovegood-Davill family seemed, they were considered perfectly normal in the area in which they lived. Just around the corner for example lived the famous Chadwick-Blooms. Sarah Chadwick-Bloom and her husband Orlando were rolling in money and lived in a huge mansion on top of the hill. Orlando was a famous muggle actor and earned a fortune meaning that Sarah had everything she could possibly imagine, from 4 beautiful children to a job as astronomy teacher at Howarts. Everything was normal for the residents of Ottery St. Catchpole, but something was soon going to happen that would change it forever..... 

It was Sunday, and the day before Katie Lovegood-Davill would be going back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had recieved her acceptance letter only a year ago and had been excited ever since. But for the moment (instead of writing new articles or packing her case), Katie was stuck in her bedroom with no means of escape. She had also been banned from going downstairs due to the fact that she'd supposedly been tormeting her brother with magic that morning. Her parents obviously thought that if they released her Katie would attempt to do it again. 

"It wasn't my fault!" Katie screamed as she heard her mum walk past on her way to the bathroom that evening. "I didn't do it on purpose!" 

Katie's mum had obviously decided to ignore her as punishment, aswell as lock her in her room, because she didn't reply to Katie's innocent pleas. It wasn't Katie's fault what had happened though, even if she was the only one that knew it. Katie had been instructed to play hide and seek with her brother Devonn, though very reluctantly, but because she was a good girl Katie had done as she'd been told. She ended up getting so frustrated however at her brother (who refused to count) that she'd accidently banished him somwhere. This somewhere happened to be on top of her mum whilst she was preparing the dinner, causing her to smash several priceless plates. So now Katie was stuck in her bedroom with nothing to do and (so it seemed) the whole world hating her. 

After a while of sitting and feeling sorry for herself Katie decided it was about time she got some sleep. She quickly changed into her pyjamas and slipped between the cold sheets. The house was completely silent, except for the hum of the boiler, and Katie could see the faint outline of the moon peeping through from behind the layer of clouds that covered the sky. She sighed deeply, closed her eyes and turned over when, 

'tap, tap, tap' Katie sat up and opened her eyes, 'tap, tap, tap', there it was again. 

She stood up and realised that the tapping sound was coming from her window. She pulled back the curtain and saw a large barn owl perched precariously on the windowsill. In its beak was an envelope with a red seal. Katie opened the window, letting the warm summer breeze blow in, and took the letter from the owl who immediately flew off into the night. Katie turned the parchment envelope over, the seal bore the symbol of the Ministry of Magic and a picture of a wand emitting stars. She pulled out the letter and read: 

_Dear Miss Lovegood-Davill, _

We have recieved intelligence that you performed the Banishing Charm at nineteen minutes past eleven this morning in you place of residence in Ottery St. Catchpole. 

As you know, under-age witches are not permitted to perform spells out of school, and further spellwork on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Under-Age Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C). 

Please also remember that all magic is not permitted in front of muggles. 

Enjoy your holidays! 

Yours Sincerely, 

Jamina Hopkirk 

Improper Use of Magic Office 

Ministry of Magic 

Katie sat down, fuming. It wasn't her fault she'd done magic. It was an accident which couldn't have been prevented, and now she had an official warning from the Ministry of Magic to pay for it. 

"Great," thought Katie, "At least I haven't been expelled." With that she flopped back down onto her bed, dropped the letter into the bin and fell fast asleep. 

As the next morning arrived it brought the back to school feelings with it. Katie's stomach was churning furiously and she couldn't bring her self to eat anything. Every time her mum sopke to her she'd reply in the same monotonous voice or avoid talking altogether. The morning seemed to take hours to pass, partially due to the fact Katie had woken so early out of excitement and partially because the train didn't leave for Hogwarts until midday. This was some new rule that the new Hogwarts head teacher had brought in only the previous year. Professor Dumbledore had reluctantly stepped down from his position as head of the school and the place had been immediately filled by Professor Lubella, Dumbledore's second cousin's daughter twice removed, or something along those lines. She thought that the first day of term was one of the worst days of the year and so should be as short as possible, and after many disputes with her fellow teachers this ended up being put into action by having a half day at the beginning of each term. Right now it was nearing eleven o'clock and Katie was sat at the bottom of the stairs with her bags waiting to leave any moment. Her mum Luna, was hurrying around the kitchen trying to force food down her daughter and stuff extra food into her suitcase. Katie's little brother Devonn was playing happily in the lounge, unaware that in a few years time he would be going through the same set of emotions as his big sister. 

"Come on then darling," said Luna, smiling at her daughter, "Let's be off." 

Katie plodded nervously out of the hallway and clambered into the Ministry taxi waiting outside, her mum soon followed clutching a screaming Devonn. 

For the whole journey Katie stared out of the window and didn't utter a word until they reached Kings Cross Station. After giving her mum and brother a quick kiss, she hurried over to platform 9 ¾ where she saw her friend Louise waiting for her, waving excitedly as she witnessed the arrival of Katie. 

After hauling their luggage onto the train, Katie and Louise went off to find an empty compartment. 

"I wonder where Kate's got to," said Katie anxiously, "I hope she's remembered we're back at school today." 

"I'm sure she has," replied Louise, "You can't really forget a day like this." Katie waved quickly to her mum then hopped onto the Hogwarts Express. They sat down and Katie got out her parchment and quill and started to write, humming the Red Dwarf theme tune as she wrote. Louise gazed out the window at the early morning sky and sighed deeply, 

"I'm glad we're going back," she said as she slumped back into the corner. The station clock chimed 12 o' clock and the train started to move away from the platform. Katie peered out of the window, looking for inspiration for her article. She obviously found this inspiration as all was quiet for a moment, each girl deep in thought, when the silence was broken by a young, brown haired girl entering their compartment of the train. 

"Hiya!" she said brightly as she shut the glass door behind her, "How are you? I'm new here, I can't wait! I hope I'm in Ravenclaw! Go Ravenclaw!" She danced her way down the train and sat herself between Katie and Louise, knocking Katie's quill out of her hand in the process and bouncing up and down on the chair to Louise's annoyance. "Well? Aren't you going to speak to me then?" she said, staring wide eyed at Louise. 

"Err, hi," said Louise reluctantly, wondering who this girl was and what she was doing here. Katie bent down to pick up her swan feather quill but she was beaten to it by the annoying first year. 

"Here you are!" she said happily, placing the feather on Katie's lap. "Can I ask you a question?" the girl said, directing her voice at Louise. "Which house are you in and where do you think I'll be put?" 

"Well," replied Louise, "I'm in Ravenclaw, and by the sounds of it you want to be in that house too. Though thinking about it, you'll probably be put in Hufflepuff." Katie sniggered, everyone knew that Hufflepuff was a house full of duffers. 

"Aww," said the first year, "Well I don't suppose it matters really anyway. Go Ravenclaw! I'm Julie by the way," she added. 

"I'm Louise, and this is Katie," Louise replied, who was liking the girl less and less by the second. 

"Great to meet you guys! I'll leave you alone now shall I? You look busy" and with that final question Julie exited the train compartment singing Mysterious Girl loudly and out of tune. 

"What was that?" asked Katie as soon as she'd gone. She looked like she had just seen a ghost. 

"Dunno," said Louise, "But what ever it was it sure wasn't good." They laughed together for a minute about their encounter with Julie then went back to their writing, humming and sightseeing. 

Soon it started to grow dark outside and the lights of the train came on. They had been travelling for hours and Katie had managed to write five articles for The Quibbler and Louise had managed to eat her way through 26 chocolate frogs that she had bought off the witch with the sweet trolley. They had had several visitors to their compartment aswell throughout the jouney. Namely a fellow Hufflepuff 2nd year Harriet Morgana who, to Katie's amusement, stayed for a while to chat about marshmallows. 

"I think we should get changed into our robes now," mentioned Katie as she realised they were approaching the station, so she and Louise went off to find the toilets to change into their Hogwarts uniform. 

As the Hogwarts Express eventually drew into Hogsmeade station, the students on the train gave a loud cheer. Katie and Louise, along with about 400 other people, piled off the train and hurried across the platform to the horseless carriages on the other side of the road. It was pouring with rain and lightning bolts were creating enormous zigzags and illuminating the night sky. Katie could here the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Mr. Procella , calling loudly down the platform for all the first years, but even his voice wasn't loud enough to overpower the crashes of thunder that deafened the town every few minutes. Katie and Louise hopped onto the nearest carriage, along with another dark haired girl that they didn't know, and the carriages started to advance. As quickly as they had set off, the students arrived at the magnificant castle that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

**_A/N_** Well yeh, I hoped you liked it! Please review, I appreciate it! I would also like you to know that this is my least favourite chapter and it took me ages to write it, please don't be put off by it! 


	2. An Unexpected Meeting

** An Unexpected Meeting**

As the students marched up to the castle doors the rain continued to pour down heavily, and the sky looked like something out of a horror movie. Lightning bolts were still racing across the sky and the thunder was ringing madly round their ears. When they reached the castle, the magnificent oak doors swung open before them and the drenched students piled into the entrance hall as quickly as they could. 

"Bit of a bad day today," commented Louise, who was stood wringing her hair out as if it was a wet flannel.

"Yeah," said Katie, "But it would make a great story, 'Dangerous Downpour Threatens Lives of Students'," she quoted, gesturing towards her fellow workers.  
  
"I don't think it's quite that bad," said Louise,  
  
"Yeah, but it sounds good," Katie answered plainly. The students, many of whom had been at the school for many years now, knew exactly what to do on the first day of term so at once, they slowly moved their way to the great hall like an enormous avalanche weaving its way down a mountainside. Katie and Louise just went with the flow.

The hall soon filled with chattering children as they took their places on the long wooden house benches. Katie looked up and was surprised to see the ceiling reflecting exactly what the night sky outside looked like, minus the coldness. Professor Aurum the divination teacher stepped forward and placed a patched, fraying black hat on a wooden stool near the front of the hall. 

"It's the sorting hat!" squealed Katie with excitement, now distracted from the ceiling (who's clouds had become a nasty grey colour). "I remember when we were sorted, I was so scared. Kate and I were convinced they were going to put us in Slytherin,"

"Honestly Katie," Louise said, rolling her eyes, "As if you were going to be put in Slytherin, you're far too noble for that lot." Katie blushed and suddenly seemed to become fascinated in a knot on the table. 

"Talking about Kate, I wonder where she's got to," said Louise, sounding slightly concerned, "She wasn't on the Hogwarts Express was she? I didn't see her. She even told me the other day that she would see me on the train."

"Oh I'm sure she'll be OK," said Katie, though she did seem a bit unsure about what she was saying. Katie turned as is she expected to see Kate running down the hallways out of breath when, 

"Look!" shouted Louise suddenly, pointing over towards the corner of the Great Hall. "It's the first years!" She was right, and from a door leading off to the right came the sound of minute footsteps which was followed by a scurry of very small people. They made their way to the staff table and then sat down on the cold, flagstone floor. "Aww, aren't they cute," said Louise,

"Suppose," replied Katie, "Except that one we met on the train, what was her name again?"

"Julie," Louise answered, 

"Oh yeah, she was just annoying." Louise stood up to get a better view of the first years but was forced to sit down again as all of a sudden, and out of no where so it seemed, a loud, kindly woman's voice echoed round the hall.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" she said, "I am Professor Lubella your head teacher, for all those people that have forgotten over the summer!" She smiled graciously to her audience then turned to the quivering first years. "I would first like to welcome our latest arrivals," she said, beaming at the young children, "In just a few moment they will be sorted into their houses. I ask you to look after any new house members you receive and please, be seated!" With that, Professor Lubella sat down, her eyes glinting and the rest of the school followed suit. They sat in silence for a moment as if waiting for something important, when, quite unexpectedly and to the confusion of the first years, the old hat suddenly burst out into song, they gaped at it in awe,  
  
'I am the Hogwarts sorting hat  
Standing frayed and old,  
Though I may not look like much  
I can see your colours bold.  
Let me look within your head  
To see what I can find,  
Then I shall put you in a house  
With others of your kind.  
Whether you are bold and brave  
Or honest, loyal and true  
I will find the perfect place  
That'll be just right for you.  
Out of the Hogwarts houses four,  
You will belong in one,  
But to decide where you reside,  
Is a harder job for some.  
You may belong in Ravenclaw  
Where they are sharp of mind,  
They like to study hard each day  
With others of their kind.  
Or maybe it is Gryffindor  
That is the place for you,  
They're daring and adventurous  
And love to search for clues.  
Or perhaps dark Slytherin  
Is your house to be,  
They're secretive and sinister  
But get on happily  
Finally is Hufflepuff  
Where they are loyal and true,  
They like to be competitive  
Is this the house for you?  
I can sort you if you're good,  
Ambitious or deceiving,  
But if you don't open up your mind  
The results will be displeasing.  
So put me on upon your head  
And think your favourite dreams,  
Then I will look into you thoughts  
And consider what I see.'  
  
The hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song and the first years looked at it half in surprise and half in amazement.

"Wow," exclaimed Katie sounding just as amazed herself, "That was good, but I'm sure it wasn't like that last year."

"I don't think it was," said Louise, "That's probably what it does all year, spends the time making up new songs, I don't suppose there's much to do when you're a hat." Professor Aurum turned to the first years who now looked more relaxed,

"When I call your name please come to the front and try on the hat. It will tell you which house you have been sorted into and when you've been sorted please sit down at the correct house table." she paused, then picked up a scroll of parchment that was lying on the staff table. "Atkins, Sophie," she called. A small, mousy looking girl stepped forward and sat down nervously on the stool with the hat on her head. A moments pause then, "GRYFFINDOR!" screamed the hat and the girl hurried off to join the Gryffindor table. "Barley, Andrew" said Professor Aurum. A tall, sandy haired boy scurried forward and pulled the hat down over his eyes. As he did so the hat immediately screamed, "SLYTHERIN!" and he ran off to join the far table, who the members of which, were now clapping and whooping loudly.

The new students continued to be sorted (Granger-Day, Samuel became a Hufflepuff and Lorica, Emily became a Gryffindor) until they started to reach the end of the list. "Patil, Philippa" called Professor Aurum and a brown haired girl stepped forth. She placed the hat on her neatly done hair, waited a few moments and was sorted into Hufflepuff. The Hufflepuff table cheered enthusiastically.

"Potter, Emma," said Professor Aurum. A flood of whispers spread throughout the hall,

"Do you think that's Harry's daughter?" asked Louise excitedly. Katie shrugged. Emma Potter nervously put on the hat then,

"GRYFFINDOR!" it roared and the Gryffindor table burst into applause, patting Emma as she came to join them. Louise stood up and peered over students hats to see Emma Potter, but was dragged back down to her seat again by Katie.

As the sorting came to an end and Weasley, Marcus had been sorted into Ravenclaw (and to Katie and Louise's dismay, so had Julie) Professor Lubella stood up once more to address the students.

"Now that you have been sorted into your houses," she said, "Let the feast begin!" She clapped her hands twice and the four long tables filled with food. Katie looked around in amazement at the tables piled high with chicken wings, salad, sausages, toast, eggs, sandwiches, cakes, crisps, roast beef and for some strange reason, sherbet lemons.

"Wow!" she exclaimed, "I've just realised how hungry I am". Katie helped herself to a large portion of cream cake and started to eat, Louise copied her friend and also helped herself to cake.

After they had made their way through several main courses, drinks and puddings Louise stood up, 

"Right. you finished Katie?" she asked, "It's getting late. Let's go and find our beds because I'm exhausted."

"OK then," replied Katie reluctantly, grabbing another bread roll and quickly smearing it with jam as she left the table. "I wonder if they'll have taken our bags up yet," she queried, "They did last time. Now, which way is the common room?" Katie stopped and to her surprise, Louise found herself facing the three main Hogwarts staircases. Trying to remember which one led to the Ravenclaw tower, Katie decided upon the middle staircase and started to march up it. Excited about being able to see the common room again, she started to run up the stairs when suddenly, 'Whack!' she had run full on into the chest of someone, hitting her head hard and temporarily disorientating her. 

"Hey girl, watch where you're going," the someone drawled, putting his hand on Katie's shoulder. She looked up, 

"Sor-," she began, but her words were frozen as she realised who it was she was talking to. "Oh, err, yeah," she stuttered, "I, erm, I'm sorry." Katie couldn't believe her luck, she was staring straight into the piercing blue eyes of Sam Evanstar - her absolute hero. Plus, he had his firm hand on her shoulder. They stood for a moment in silence until Louise coughed and Katie remembered where she was, 

"Well, I better go now," she mumbled, breaking her gaze.

"Yeah, see you around," replied Sam and he continued down the stairs and into the Great Hall. Sam Evanstar was a Ravenclaw 4th year and was already the school heart throb. He had long brown hair, blue eyes and a brace (which for some strange reason Katie found attractive). With his mystic charms and quick wit, Katie had fallen for him big time.

"Oh my God!" she shrieked after he had disappeared into the Hall, hugging Louise ecstatically, "I can't believe it! I, Katie Lovegood-Davill, just fell into the arms of Sam Evanstar!" she danced around on the spot, hopping from one foot to the other.

"OK Katie, calm down," said Louise, who didn't see what all the fuss was about.

With a bit of persuasion Louise managed to move Katie from the spot she had seemed to have become stuck to and drag her all the way to the Ravenclaw common room. Katie was now laughing hysterically. 

"I just can't believe it!" she cried, "I mean out of all the people I could have run into, it just had to be him!" Louise ignored her.

"Sherbet Lemon," she said as they reached the suit of amour that marked the entrance to the Ravenclaw tower. The knight stepped forward, creaking and clanging, to reveal a flight of stairs spiralling upwards. Louise and Katie (who had now got over herself) started up it.

They entered the common room and Katie flopped down upon a blue armchair by the window. Louise went into the girls dormitory. However, Katie didn't have time to contemplate what she was going to do next because at that moment a blonde haired girl threw herself across the room and in to her arms, 

"Woah!" exclaimed Katie loudly, nearly toppling backwards over the chair. She sat up to see what was going on and Louise retraced her steps back into the common room.

"KATE!" screamed Louise so loudly that the whole school could have heard her. The blonde haired girl turned on the spot to face her friend. "Where've you been?" Louise asked curiously, "We were so worried when you didn't turn up on the train," added Katie.

"Oh I was there all right," replied Kate, sitting down on a stool next to Katie "Just not with you. I had to go and talk to Professor Lubella further down the train and it took longer than expected." Louise walked over from the doorway and came to sit down with Kate and Katie. 

"What did Lubella want with you?" she asked,

"Oh," stumbled Kate, "Err, nothing important. What have you guys been up to?" she asked, rapidly changing the subject. Katie looked at her suspiciously, but got the hint anyway and the three of them sat for a while chatting about their summer holidays.

Sooner than expected, the common room started to grow dark and twinkling stars appeared in the night sky outside.

"I'm going to bed now," declared Kate, yawning as she did so

. "Yeah, so am I," said Katie, also yawning as she threw an empty Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans box into the bin. 

"And me!" added Louise, who didn't like to be left out. They walked out of the common room and up the stairs to their dormitory, their stuff had already been brought up. Kate went into the bathroom and Louise went off to find other people to talk to. Too tired to change or do anything else, Katie sunk back onto her bed and immediately fell fast asleep. 

** _ A/N_** Again, please review! And remember, everything was relevant to the events in my life at the time I wrote it! lol 


	3. Katie's Vision

** Katie's Vision**

Katie didn't think she would ever find someone that she really hated. She was liked by everyone, and in return she liked everybody back. That was so until the day when Katie had her first divination lesson and the day she met Rachel Felton.

As Katie, Kate and Louise sat eating breakfast in the Great Hall that morning, Katie pulled out her new timetable (which she had already colour coded). 

"Right," she said, unfolding it carefully, "This morning we have divination with the Gryffindors in the divination tower,"

"Divination?" questioned Louise as she took a bite of buttered toast.

"Yes, that's right, divination," replied Katie, absent mindedly putting the timetable in her cereal bowl as she leant over to reach a mint humbug.

"But I didn't think second years took divination," Louise said surprised.

"Well they do now. And oh look, not only is it with the Gryffindors but with the first years too."

"First years?" spluttered Kate, spraying milk everywhere, "What do we want with them?"

"Dunno, but it must be important," replied Katie, rolling her eyes at the mess Kate had just made. She helped herself to more cereal, realising she had just poured milk over her timetable, so said 'Scourgify' then carried on. Kate took a sip of orange juice then looked at her watch. 

"It's nearly 9 o' clock," she said, "We best be going." Katie looked around the Hall and realised they were the last people there so started to cram the cereal in her mouth rather than spoon it in. Kate and Louise got up, forcing Katie to do the same and abandon her cereal, then together they walked quickly out of the hall.

They found the divination room quite quickly thanks to Louise's mapping spell, but found that everyone else was there already none the less. They were crowded round a rusting ladder that lead up to a circular door in the roof, chattering excitedly. Katie and her friends stood out of the way. Suddenly, (and shattering all thoughts like glass) 

"Hiya!" shrieked a girls voice. It was Julie. She came hurtling over towards them, "Can I sit with you guys?" she asked ecstatically, "I don't really have any other friends yet,"

"I wonder why," muttered Katie, Louise had to stop herself from laughing out loud at Katie's remark, but luckily Julie didn't notice. 

"Well can I? I can't believe I was sorted into Ravenclaw you know, it was such a shock! I didn't expect it at all. Go Ravenclaw!" she laughed at what she had just said as if it were some hilarious joke. "So can I sit with you?" she asked again. Fortunately, Katie was saved from having to answer Julie's question by the door in the ceiling slowly opening and Professor Aurum's head poking out.

"Welcome class, come into the mystical auras of my classroom and please be seated. Don't touch anything though, you might disturb the spirits." Her head disappeared and the students eagerly started to climb up the ladder, whispering madly. Kate looked at Katie in exasperation. Eventually everyone had disappeared after a lot of fuss ("But I don't like heights!") and they climbed the ladder themselves. At the top was a hot, round room. The fire was burning brightly in the grate and incense sticks were scattered all over the place. It was stifling hot and Katie turned to open the windows, but realised there were none. Instead, she decided to sit near the back of the room on a chintz armchair next to an ornamental waterfall. She was closely followed by Kate and Louise, and fortunately, Julie had decided to sit near the front. Professor Aurum seemed to have vanished, but the class didn't seem to have noticed. The room was full of chatter and anticipation but the warmness of the room was making Katie sleepy. She closed her eyes but was rudely awoken by Louise poking her and saying, 

"Look!" Though it was hardly noticeable at first, the room had started to grow dark. The lights faded and the raging fire burnt itself out. The strong floral smell of the incense sticks seemed to have disappeared completely and for a moment the students sat in the pitch black in absolute silence. After a while however, a large silver orb started to glow near the front desk. It gave off a misty haze and the room filled with 'oohs' and 'ahhs'. 

"It's a moon!" squealed Julie in delight,

"No it's not, it's a crystal ball," said another voice from somewhere nearby to Katie. The nearest pupils screeched in surprise and the further ones stood up to get a better look. Then, out of nowhere came the mystical voice of Professor Aurum.

"Welcome to the creative art of divination." the ball glowed brighter, then changed colour from white to lilac. "For those who can See, this lesson will come gracefully to them and they will reside here in harmony. For those who cannot See, then the art of divination will be difficult, but they will be able to live harmoniously and peacefully none the less." The students near the front were now leaning so close to the orb, their noses were nearly touching it. Katie however lay back and sighed, 

"This is gonna be a long year," she said. Katie didn't believe in anything superstitious and thought it was all a load of rubbish. From the expression on her face, Kate seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Louise on the other hand was looking intrigued, but noticing Katie's boredom, she also sunk backwards. (Which would have been a lot easier if she hadn't been sitting on a stool.) The room was absolutely silent, each pupil enchanted by the mystical auras from the orb at the front of the classroom. Katie could see the faint outline of Julie reaching forward trying to touch the misty haze, though failing. As soon as it had begun however, the excitement was over and the room was slowly brought back to its senses. The aroma of floral perfume returned and gently mingled with the soft smell, for some strange reason, of butterbeer. Professor Aurum appeared from a doorway near the back of the room and started to hand out a sheet of instructions to each of the students. 

"Where did she come from?" asked Kate sounding incredibly confused as she looked around.

"From that door," said Katie gesturing behind her as she studied the sheet.

"Er, which door?" asked Kate, "All I can see is a window."

Katie turned and to her surprise the door had vanished and had indeed been replaced by a window. She stood up and walked over to it, in hope of getting some fresh air and seeing a concealed doorway, but all she could observe was the panoramic view of the Hogwart's grounds. Professor Aurum, she concluded, had in fact appeared from nowhere. Returning back to her seat, Katie noticed that her fellow pupils were now all crowded round their own crystal balls in twos and threes. Louise was pointing excitedly at the swirling mist within and even Kate looked remotely interested. Katie joined them and also peered into the glowing orb. Suddenly, and without warning, it happened. The lights blacked out and all sense of life vanished as the temperature dropped to freezing. The orb in front of Katie flashed ferociously from blue to orange to green but she seemed to be the only one that could see it. There was an ear piercing scream and a high pitched cackle followed by a flash of blinding green light. Helpless, Katie fell to the floor and blacked out.

"Stand back please Ravenclaws. No Louise, please stay away. Stop! Please, stay back and sit down, there's nothing to worry about and there's nothing you can do right now."

Katie squinted her eyes open then closed them again. She realised she was lying flat on the floor with her arms by her side and her ankle was at a funny angle. Puzzling over how she had managed to get into this condition, Katie lay still trying not to flinch. She didn't feel like talking to Professor Lubella right now, for that who was who the voice belonged to. Her attempts at pretending she was still knocked out failed however. Professor Lubella somehow had sensed that she was now awake and had started to haul Katie up onto the nearest chair. Katie, now forced to open her eyes, looked around and saw that her class, and what looked like the rest of the school, were staring at her worriedly. Louise came rushing forward, tears in her eyes, but she was stopped by Professor Lubella and made to stand back with the other students. Katie could see Professor Aurum sat in the corner, sobbing hysterically whilst drinking tea. It looked like she'd been at it for hours as there were at least fifteen empty tea cups strewn over the chintz carpet. Katie watched for a moment a group of 2nd year Gryffindors smirking at the back of the room. What they were smirking at Katie never got to know because all of a sudden she was overcome with sleep and instantly fell back into her previous state.

Katie could see it. The flash, the woman falling to the ground who for some reason looked familiar. She could hear it too. The scream, the cackle. Katie reached out her hand, touching, grabbing. She could see the owner of the green light, the owner of the laughter. If only she could reach a bit further she would be able to unmask them. Katie stretched her arm out, her fingers coming into contact with the silky material of their cloak. She reached further, her hand about to touch their face to reveal who the murderer was. Her forefinger touched their rough skin, she was nearly there, just one more movement, just one more....BANG! Katie opened her eyes, startled, and found herself on a heap on the floor next to her bed, shaking violently. She was in the hospital wing and had reached slightly too far in her vision that it had caused her to fall onto the floor. Katie knew it was a vision rather than a dream. It had all been so real, so terrifying. She stood up and then realised that if the vision was real, she had to get to Professor Lubella fast, someone was in grave danger. Katie quickly grabbed her blue flannel dressing gown and started to charge out of the hospital wing at full speed. She was forced to stop however near to the entrance door. Stood in her way were two second year Gryffindors. Katie immediately recognised them as to be those who were smirking at the back of the divination classroom.

"Excuse me," said Katie politely though out of breath, 

"What did you say?" said one of the Gryffindors, leaning against the door frame blocking all means of exit for Katie and smirking again. 

"I said excuse me," said Katie, "This is an emergency, I need to get to Lubella."

"Well, well, well. An emergency? Isn't that cute," the tallest of the girls said. She had long, white blonde curls that fell into her eyes, which were of a piercing blue colour. She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"So, what is this emergency then little girl?" she asked.

" I am not a little girl," said Katie through clenched teeth, "And will you please move? I need to see Lubella now. Someone is in danger and needs to be warned."

"Oh," laughed the other Gryffindor, "Someone's in danger? Well if you continue telling us to move I think you'll be the one that's on danger." They chuckled at their little joke then stepped aside. 

"Well, if it's that important little girl, I think we'll let you go past," said the smaller of the two. She had dark blonde hair which she wore in a ponytail and an expression on her face that looked as if she'd just eaten something incredibly sour. As Katie furiously walked between them and out of the door they called behind her, 

"Run, run little girl! Someone's in grave danger, run to your teacher, run, run!" they laughed loudly as Katie stormed down the corridor. As she turned the corner Katie broke into a run and realised that she had tears in her eyes. Fortunately she didn't have to go far as Professor Libella seemed to already have sensed that something was wrong and was waiting for Katie at the end of the corridor.

"I think you'd better come with me," said Professor Lubella kindly, her dark, almond shaped eyes twinkling affectionately. Katie followed slowly, shaking with both fear and hatred for the poor woman in her vision and for the two 2nd year Gryffindors. Katie had finally found someone she hated and was prepared to do anything she could to stop it. 

** _ A/N_** erm, review?! 


	4. Astronomy

** Astronomy**

Katie followed Professor Lubella down dusty corridors, through doorways, under arches and behind worn tapestries until they finally reached a small round room with countless stain glass windows. The walls were made of cold stone, as was the floor, which was covered in what looked like the remains of the muddy footprints of many previous head teachers. Katie looked upwards and noticed that the room they were in was in fact a tower that went up and up into what looked like a black oblivion. Professor Lubella cleared her throat and flicked her shiny black hair over her shoulder. 

"Fizzing Whizzbee," she said, and the wall in front of Katie started to revolve, revealing a stone gargoyle on the other side and a steep flight of stairs.

"OK then Katie," said Lubella, "After you." Katie stepped forward and started up the spiralling stairs. There was no need to climb any further however because the stairs seemed to also be slowly moving upwards on their own accord. When they reached the top Katie stepped down into a room which she presumed was Professor Lubella's office. She had never been in there before and so stood, mouth open, gaping at the hundreds of portraits that covered the walls. The room was also full of strange looking objects and Katie even noticed a Disney video collection on a shelf behind Lubella's desk. She smiled but was soon brought back to her senses as the head teacher tapped her sharply on the shoulder with her wand and told her to sit down.

"Katie, I need to have a word with you," Professor Lubella started as she sat down on the gold plaid chair opposite Katie. Katie shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I sensed that something was wrong and so thought it wise to call you here, rather than you having to explain it in the middle of the school."'

"Yes," replied Katie glumly, it had now dawned on her why she was there, "It's those two Gryffindor's," she said, "I don't know who they are but they sure are annoying."

"That's not what I meant," said Lubella, "But carry on anyway." Katie sighed,

"Well, I was just coming to see you because I had this dream, no, vision, and they stopped me and wouldn't let me go past and then they started asking me stuff but I needed to get to you and they were acting as if I was a little child but I needed to see you and they thought I was lying, and then, then, you appeared." Katie said, so fast that she was out of breath by the time she had finished. "Do you know who they are?" she added. Katie seemed to think it best if she gave Lubella the story all at once, so she could get it over and done with.

"Why yes." replied Lubella calmly. She was good at keeping calm in a crisis and knew exactly how to deal with everything, this was one of the reasons why so many people admired her. "They are two second year Gryffindors. They go by the names of Rachel Felton and Laura Goyle. The only reason why they are acting like this is because they're jealous Katie. They want to be like you because, well, you're a really nice person. Now, don't let them get to you."

"OK," said Katie blankly, though she could tell Lubella was just saying that to make her feel better. 

"Now. Is there anything else you wish to tell me?" asked Professor Lubella, who had obviously seen the look of disbelief on Katie's face.

"Yes." said Katie, now looking at her knees, "I had this vision whilst I was asleep in the hospital wing. Someone's in grave danger Professor, danger from Vol-, sorry, you-know-who. He's going to murder again. I know it."

"OK Katie," said Lubella, "Can you tell me any more information?"

"Err, no." replied Katie, "Wait! Yes I can! It's coming back to me now. It was a girl that was killed, yes, a girl, and I recognised her from some-" Katie froze mid-sentence in absolute horror, her eyes widened, "The girl was, the girl was-"

"Yes?" encouraged Lubella as she put her hand on Katie's shoulder. Katie was now crying silently, but managed to go on. 

"It was Kate," she whispered. Katie put her head in her hands and tried to breathe deeply and think clearly but all she could see was the blinding green light and the sound of Kate's innocent screams. "P-Professor?" Katie stuttered, she was in too much shock to speak properly, "W-w-why does V-voldemort want to k-kill Kate?"

"Now now Katie, I want you to first understand this. The vision you encountered was infact an insight into matter that has already happened. Now is not the time for me to explain it Miss Lovegood, but the time will come eventually

"B-but," stuttered Katie, "If it was in the past then surely that means....why is.......but surely........how can Kate be alive now?"

"Katie. The girl you saw in your vision wasn't Kate, though she did resemble her greatly. I now however, cannot give you any more information, though I can caution you to be careful as you have many visions yet to come."

"Many?" questioned Katie

"Yes," replied Lubella. "But please don't fret and worry over them. Now Katie when you are ready it is time for you to leave," said Lubella kindly, "Remember if there's anything you want to tell me, anything at all, you know where to find me." Katie smiled weakly and stood up. 

"I have just one more question," she said as she walked over to the staircase, "Why did the woman resemble Kate?"

"That I cannot answer," replied Lubella kindly, though there was something about her voice that made Katie wary. Katie started to march back down the stairs, the sadness on her face had vanished and had been replaced by a look of utter confusion. "Goodbye Miss Lovegood,"

said a distant voice as Katie walked along the corridor. Katie didn't know what to do. She wanted to tell Kate and Louise instantly about her vision, but then decided against it, somethings were best kept to herself. She decided to let her feet guide her, and ended up back in the Ravenclaw common room. Ignoring all welcomes from her fellow students Katie trudged straight into her dormitory and lay down on the bed. Moments later she was once again fast asleep.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" screamed Louise running into the room,

"What is it?" replied Kate anxiously,

"I don't believe it!" There was the sound of rustling paper,

"Wow! Look at that!"

"I know I know! What am I going to wear?"

"Never mind that, who are we going to go with?"

"Oh, yeh," replied Louise, sounding downtrodden. Katie stretched and opened her eyes. Sleepily she sat up and saw Kate and Louise sat on the end of her bed, Louise clutching a scrumpled piece of parchment. 

"Keep it down guys," Katie mumbled, lying back down again, butt something distracted her, "Kate!" she screamed, sitting back up again violently and jumping out of bed to greet her friend. "Kate! How good to see you!" Katie gave her friend a quick hug and then flopped herself down onto the bed next to Louise. 

"Oh-kay," said Kate, "What was that for?"

"Err, nothing," replied Katie quickly, after all, she had decided to keep her vision secret..

"What's all the fuss about anyway, you two woke me up."

"Oh, it's the Winter Ball this Christmas," piped Louise

"Oh yeh, go on then, what's the bad news?" said Katie, raising an eyebrow as she turned to face Louise, 

"Hey! How did you know there was bad news? Anyway, I've just read this poster and it says that the Ball is only open to third years and above, which means we can't go unless someone invites us,"

"Well that rules us out of going then," answered Katie as she stood up to go and get changed, "I mean, who's gonna invite us?"

"Honestly Katie," said Kate rolling her eyes, "You never think positive do you?"

"Well it's true," said Katie, "I mean who _ is_ going to take us?"

That morning the Great Hall was full of chatter about the Winter Dance that would be happening that December. Katie, Kate and Louise just sat quietly and ate their breakfast though they couldn't help getting into conversation with Harriet Morgana or Becca Finnigan, two third year Hufflepuffs sat behind them.

"I just can't wait for the dance!" cried Becca excitedly, "I already know who I'm going to ask."

"Who are you going to ask?" queried Kate,

"Oh, just the Keeper on the Hufflepuff team. You know, Martin Corner. Who are you guys going with?"

"What? Us?" asked Katie, spilling her orange juice all over the table,

"Yeh," said Becca, "You,"

"Well," replied Katie,

"We aren't exactly-" said Kate

"Going to decide yet are we?" added Louise. Katie sighed in relief that Louise hadn't told Becca and Harriet they weren't going to be invited. 

"If you say so," said Becca biting into an apple tart. 

"I'm going to the Ball," said Harriet dreamily, "I can't wait, I've already been asked as well,"

"You have?" said Becca, so astonished that she dropped what she was eating.

"Yes. By Jack Weasley. He asked me on the way to the bathroom this morning."

"Right." replied Becca, "I won't even ask why you were going to the bathroom together but we better be going now, don't want to be late for potions!"

"Bye then," replied Kate as she tucked into a Brunch bar. "Though I think we best be off too, got an astronomy lesson to get to,"

"Astronomy?," said Katie and Louise in unison.

"But it's morning, and it's daylight," commented Louise, as if suggesting Kate had made a mistake.

"I know," said Kate, "But that's what my timetable says." They stood up and Katie and Louise marched out of the Great Hall together, closely followed by Kate carrying a huge handful of Brunch bars. Louise rolled her eyes. 

"This is just going to be a living nightmare," said Katie, "What if we really don't get invited to the Ball by anyone? We'll be the talk of the school, for at least a week,"

"Oh Katie," replied Kate stuffing food into her bag, "Think positive! Who would you like to go with?" Katie laughed, 

"Isn't that a bit obvious?" she said, "Sam Evanstar of course,"

"Well I'm sure we can make it happen," said Louise, "But for the moment let's not worry about that, we just need to find our way up to the astronomy tower."

Kate, Katie and Louise followed their instincts and soon found themselves at the entrance to the astronomy tower, they could already hear the patter of feet upstairs and realised they were late. They slowly entered the classroom and sat down on the back row, fortunately Professor Bloom hadn't noticed and so Katie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Welcome back to a new year of astronomy. This lesson will be on a Tuesday first lesson and Thursday midnight." called Professor Bloom, "Today we will be studying planet arrangements as these can easily be seen in daylight, I would like you to get into pairs and choose a telescope." Professor Bloom smiled at Katie, they had known each other for 12 years as they lived in the same neighbourhood. Katie would often go and play with Professor Bloom's children or watch her husband Orlando rehearse for his latest films. 

"Katie? Can I go in a pair with you?" asked Kate, "Yeh sure," replied Katie. Louise looked at Katie with an expression of sadness on her face and turned to pair up with Pip Patil instead. The telescopes were positioned in a large circle around the room, Katie and Kate chose one near to the front desk and attempted to star gaze.

"How on earth do you star gaze when you can't see the stars?" said Katie wearily, Professor Bloom seemed to have overheard her and announced to the class,

"To be able to see the planets in daylight switch you telescopes to 'lunar' mode using the little yellow button on the side. Then take the chart in front of you and copy down what you see. There is a map on the wall over here which shows what your completed charts should look like. Please only copy this if you are having trouble seeing the planets yourself. Right, back to work." Katie put her eye to the telescope and peered into the sky.

"What do you see?" asked Kate, who had been appointed chief drawer,

"Er, not much actually. I see Saturn and Jupiter and Mars. Grid references H4 Saturn, F4 Jupiter and A4 Mars."

"A4?" asked Kate, "You sure? It says on the chart over here that Mars should be on D4,"

"Well it's not. OK, Mercury K5, Uranus H4, Pluto B7-"

"Katie stop. This is all wrong. How can Mercury be further out than Pluto? And how come Saturn is in the same place as Uranus? Katie can I have a look, I think you're reading it wrong."

"I am not reading it wrong thank you very much. Only a few weeks ago did I write an article about accurate stargazing so I think you'll find that I'm perfectly correct," Katie snapped back, putting her eye back up against the telescope again. "Right, in squares L1 to L10 is the asteroid belt, I can only just see it," she said,

"But-," Kate began,

"Sshh. A6 Venus and H4 Neptune. Then after that I think we're done."

"Katie, this is ridiculous," commented Kate,

"What are you talking about?" asked Katie, "It's perfectly fine, I told you what I see and unless I am mistaken that is exactly what I saw,"

"Yeh but Katie, we have _ three_ planets in the same square, it can't be-"

"Kate? I said that's what I saw and I am definitely not wrong thank you." Katie jumped down from the telescope and went over to examine their chart. "I think it looks fine," she said, "And how do you know that I'm the one that's wrong? You might have got the wrong co-ordinates."

"Katie, I only drew what you told me to," replied Kate wearily,

"Whatever you say." Katie rubbed her hands together and sat down opposite Kate. Kate, not satisfied with Katie's stargazing techniques, had now resorted to copying the chart from the wall onto their results. Katie sighed and smiled at Kate, she knew she was right and so decided there was no point in helping her copy down the proper chart. They were forced to stop what they were doing though as Professor Bloom started to speak.

"OK then class, that's enough planet watching for today, hopefully you will have a completed chart by now. Please sit down." Kate and Katie went back to their bench and found Louise already sat there, puzzling over her own star chart. 

"Hiya," said Katie as she sat down,

"Hi," replied Louise, "You know I think Pip did her planet gazing all wrong, have you seen this?" she thrust the piece of paper into Katie's hands. Kate peered over to look at it. 

"See!" exclaimed Katie, "I wasn't doing it wrong, Louise has the same references as we did!" She sunk back against the wall looking pleased with herself.

"OK Miss Smarty," said Kate, "But how was I supposed to know? It certainly looks wrong." She gave the chart back to Louise and then turned to Professor Bloom, 

"Well done class that was an excellent lesson, please hand in your star charts on the way out. Complete them for homework if you haven't already done so," said Professor Bloom and with that, the class stood up and started to snake out of the astronomy tower. Katie, Louise and Kate followed at the end and headed towards the Hogwart's grounds for a bit of fresh air before their next lesson. 

** _ A/N_** review review review! Hope you like it so far, the plot can go a bit weird sometimes and the Brunch bars are there for a reason! 


	5. A Strange Encounter

** A Strange Encounter**

Kate, Katie and Louise slowly trundled around the lake in the school grounds as they waited for their next lesson to begin. It was a pleasant day, the sun was shining and the many willow trees that surrounded the lake were dipping in and out of the water courtesy of the slight breeze. Katie flopped down in the shade underneath a particularly leafy willow tree and stared out across the water and over to the Forbidden Forest in the distance. Louise copied and also sat down but Kate remained standing.

"Why do we have to go to lessons today?" asked Katie, "It's such a nice day, I just want to stay outside in the sun,"

"Yeh," agreed Kate, "But life doesn't work like that. What lesson do we have next?"

"Herbology," said Louise

"Great," replied Katie, lying down to enjoy the weather whilst she still could. At least herbology wasn't inside the castle. "Oh no," said Katie as she looked up to see the time,

"What?" asked Louise, looking round wildly,

"It's them," said Katie looking over towards the Quidditch pitch,

"Who?" asked Kate,

"Rachel Felton and Laura Goyle."

"Who?" asked Kate again,

"Just you wait," said Katie grimly, "Once you've met them I can guarantee you won't forget who they are." She sat up and straightened her robes as Rachel and Laura strolled over to see her. Katie noticed that Rachel was wearing a silver chain bracelet with an intricate cross design hanging from it. The moment Rachel saw her looking however, she quickly pulled down her sleeve to cover it. Katie eyed her suspiciously. 

"Why look who it is!" exclaimed Laura, waving madly at Katie and breaking her gaze, "Our friend Katie! And are these your friends? May we ask their names?"

"Louise and Kate," said Katie through clenched teeth, doing her best to keep her cool,

"Oh yes!" said Rachel in a sickly sweet voice, "I remember Kate now,"

"You do?" asked Kate confused,

"Can I have a word a minute Kate?"

"Yeh sure," replied Kate. Rachel helped Kate up by the hand and led her to a small cherry tree a few metres away from Katie, though unfortunately they were out of earshot and Katie couldn't tell what they were saying. 

"Erm, Louise?" said Laura, "Can I ask you something please?"

"Err, OK then," replied Louise, also standing up. Together they went to sit on a bench alongside the gravel path that led to the castle doors. 

"This is great," thought Katie to herself, "Not only do they annoy me, but take away my friends so I have to spend break time by myself." She sighed angrily and leant back against the tree trunk concentrating on the ripples of water in the lake. After a while of contemplation, Kate and Louise returned to her side followed by Laura and Rachel.

"Well by then Lou, Kate," said Rachel sweetly nodding to each girl in turn, "I'll see you later." 

"Yeh bye," added Laura, "See you,"

"Bye," echoed Louise and Kate as Rachel and Laura turned and strolled back across to the Quidditch pitch, Rachel constantly running her hand through her curls. 

"Oh-Kay," said Katie anxiously, "What was all that about?"

"Oh," replied Kate, "Well I know Rachel from when I was little, she used to live across the road from me. Apparently,"

"And Laura is a friend of my cousin Paige. Apparently," mentioned Louise,

"What did they want with you?" asked Katie suspiciously, she was becoming very wary about those two,

"They want to meet us in Hogsmeade on Saturday, because that's when the trip is," said Kate,

"Hogsmeade? But we always go together on the first Hogsmeade trip!" fumed Katie

,

"Sorry," said Louise quietly, "But they did ask first, you can come too if you like,"

"Yeh right," laughed Katie, "As if I'm gonna meet up with them,"

"It was only a suggestion," said Louise timidly, "And now we need to get to herbology."

Kate and Louise both stood up but Katie remained seated, "I'll meet you there," she said. So Kate and Louise went on to their next lesson without her.

The day passed as usual and by the evening everyone was exhausted. Kate, Katie and Louise had decided to return outside to enjoy the summer sun before having to go to bed. The sky was a pinkish red and was reflecting off the lake and onto the castle, Katie thought it gave the castle a murderous look. The heat was still unbearable though and so Katie, Louise and Kate were sat on the grass in the shade near to the Quidditch pitch. Louise was sat idly making a daisy chain and Kate was lying staring up into the sky. Katie sighed deeply and crossed her legs. All was peaceful when suddenly and swiftly Katie felt herself fall forward onto the grass. Her head spun and for a moment she thought she was going to black out. Katie stretched out her arm to sit back up again but she was saved the trouble by a young man who held out his hand to her. She took it gladly and felt herself being pulled upwards to her feet. Katie stood on the grass and looked around her, Kate and Louise had gone, probably due to the heat and Louise's half finished daisy chain lay wilting on the floor. There was something different though about where she was. For a start the Quidditch pitch had somehow vanished and the lake was covered with enormous water weeds that tangled themselves in big knots by the lake edge. The willow trees were straggly and unkempt and owls hooted wildly as they flew across the blood red sky. Katie turned and started to walk up the dirt path towards the castle but then she noticed that there was no castle to walk up to. All she could see was a pile of ruins with the occasional piece of stain glass scattered across the floor. Professor Lubella's gold plaid chair lay broken and splintered on the floor next to an old wooden sign that read

'DANGER. DO NOT ENTER. AREA UNSAFE'. 

"OK, what the heck is going on here," Katie asked herself as she examined the ruins of what was formerly the Great Hall. Her question was soon answered as the young man that had helped her up suddenly appeared behind her. Katie looked into his eyes and gasped, it was Sam Evanstar!

"Nothing has happened here Katherine, didn't you know this old place has been out of use for centuries? What are you doing round here anyway?" He eyed her suspiciously.

"I'm trying to get back to school," said Katie, "But it seems to have been destroyed."

"School?" laughed Sam, "What are you talking about? You go to school in town Katherine, or have your forgotten?"

"Excuse me?" replied Katie angrily. Why did he keep calling her Katherine? "I think you'll find I don't,"

"No, excuse me Katherine but I think you'll find you do. You go to Middleton Comprehensive and have done for the past year. I also attend the same school,"

"What?" cried Katie, "No I don't! I got to school here, and so do you!"

"What, me as well now?" Sam laughed again, "You play some great games girl." He stepped over a collapsed stone wall and sat down on a large rock. 

"Sam stop winding me up," said Katie angrily, "This is Hogwarts! I'm a witch you're a wizard, we go to school here, we learn magic! Remember yet?" Sam laughed hysterically,

"Katherine, you have a great imagination but you really should grow up some day." Katie was now crying silently, why wouldn't he believe her! Instead of carrying on the argument she shoved her way through the ruins and ran towards the forbidden forest. 

"It certainly looks like it should be forbidden now," Katie thought to herself as she fought her way through the overgrown vines that carpeted the floor. She was just about to push her way through into a small enlightened clearing when,

"STOP!" Katie turned and saw Sam charging towards her. "What do you think you're doing?" he cried, "Don't go in there!"

"Why ever not?" said Katie who was really starting to be put off liking Sam.

"Because," he said, breathing heavily,

"Yeh? Because what," asked Katie

"Just don't go in there Katie. Please, it's not safe and you know it,"

"Well I'm going in," replied Katie as she marched into the forest, though there was something holding her back. Sam had just called her Katie, and for some reason this was highly significant to her. Maybe he really _ didn't _want her to go into the forest. Katie ignored her thoughts and she was just about to step into the clearing when something strange happened. Her mind went fuzzy as if she'd stepped through some hidden barrier and all of a sudden all of her thoughts from that morning came flooding back to her. 

"Oh great," muttered Katie, "I knew there was something I'd forgotten,"

"What did you say you've lost?" called Sam from the lake side,

"Nothing," Katie shouted back, "But I've just remembered I've got a Northern Lights book club to go to in," Katie looked at her watch, "Five minutes." Katie made her way through the path she had just cleared and headed towards the dirt track running out of the grounds she was in, "I'll see you later!" she shouted as she ran down the path. Katie was jogging, out of breath, when a hand grabbed her shoulder and hauled her backwards with extreme force.

Katie turned and saw Kate's face above her and Louise peering anxiously from behind. The air was still hot and the sky was still red. Katie felt the freshly cut grass between her fingers and listened to the sound of broomsticks being dragged along the floor behind her. 

"Katie," Kate was calling, "Katie, are you OK?"

"Huh, what happened?" said Katie as she sat up and looked around. The castle had returned bigger then ever and Katie started for joy, it looked even more inviting than usual as well,

"Well we were just sat here and you kinda, well, fell forward," explained Kate,

"I did?" replied Katie, "When was this?"

"Oh, only about two seconds ago," said Louise, "But Kate grabbed you before you could fall any further." Katie looked at Kate gratefully then stood up feeling slightly dizzy,

"I'm going back to the common room," she said, "Anyone coming?"

"Yeh I'll come," said Louise laying down her endless daisy chain and standing up,

"I'll come too then," said Kate also standing up. "I think the heat's getting to you Katie, you nearly fainted then by the looks of things,"

"Yeh," agreed Katie as they entered the castle, though there was something about her voice that suggested she wasn't telling her friends everything. Kate picked up on this something and started asking her questions,

"Katie," she said, "What really happened?" Katie shifted uneasily then decided it was best that her friends knew what was going on.

"Well," she started, "Yesterday night when I was in the hospital wing I had a vision, an insight into the past. You-Know-Who murdered this lady who was somewhat significant to me,"

"Who was it?" asked Louise eagerly,

"I d-don't know," replied Katie, there were some things she didn't want to tell just yet, "But anyway, Lubella caught me afterwards and told me to explain to her. She also told me that I have many more visions to come,"

"Oohh!" squealed Louise excitedly, "Maybe you're related to Trelawney!"

"I don't think that's likely," added Kate, "Seeing as Trelawney never had children and she is the only one of her kind left _ and_ the vision Katie had took place in the past, not the future,"

"OK," said Louise glumly, why was Kate always right?

"So does that mean you had a vision today?" inquired Kate,

"Yeh I did," replied Katie, "I'm not sure what it was suggesting but it seemed to be in the present, not the past."

"What happened?" asked Louise,

"Well, I was at Hogwarts, except it wasn't Hogwarts, just a load of ruins. And everything was overgrown and non existent. It was if I was seeing Hogwart's from a muggle's point of view. Then I went over to the forest with Sam-"#

"Sam?" interrupted Louise, "Sam Evanstar?"

"Yes. And I was just about to enter the woods because I could tell that something was happening in there when I suddenly remembered I had to go somewhere. It was like I was a muggle and there was a repelling charm around the forest so I couldn't go in. I remembered that I had to go to a Northern Lights book club, I mean, ewww, I hate Northern Lights!"

"Now that is weird," laughed Louise, "I mean who would actually _ want _to go to a Northern Lights book-" Kate coughed slightly causing Louise to stop in mid sentence. Katie giggled, she had just remembered Kate was a fan of the Philip Pullman books.

"What I want to know is why I was a muggle," said Katie, rapidly steering the conversation away from an argument, "It was an awful experience, I sure am glad I'm not a muggle. There was no Quidditch pitch either! And I also want to know why Sam was in it, why not you two or even Harriet Morgana or Professor Aurum, why Sam?" Kate coughed again but this time for a different reason,

"Yeh I wonder why," she said sarcastically as they entered the Ravenclaw girls dormitory. Katie and Louise sat down on their beds whilst Kate went off to find a drink. 

"So what _ is _it like to be a muggle then?" Louise asked,

"Try asking a muggle," replied Katie, flopping down onto the cold sheets that covered her bed. The sun outside had faded but the night was still light. Louise drew the curtains to block out the bright glare. 

"Well I'll leave you to your thoughts now then," she whispered and she exited the room leaving Katie thinking deeply about the days events. 

** _ A/N_** please review! And I apologise to all of the Northern Lights fans out there! Hope I didn't offend you! 


	6. Hogsmeade

** Hogsmeade**

The week soon drew to a close and the excitement of the first Hogsmeade weekend was upon the students. All week pupils had chattered eagerly between classes about what they were going to buy and who they were going to go with. Even Katie was excited despite the fact she had to go with Rachel and Laura. Katie had finally given in to Louise and Kate's pleas and had agreed to go along to Hogsmeade with them, even if it meant spending the afternoon with the two people she disliked. Now it was late Saturday morning and the three friends were deciding what they were going to wear that afternoon.

"I think you should wear your new jeans," said Louise pointing towards the pile of denim on Kate's chair, "With your Goldigga t-shirt,"

"OK then," replied Kate, "Whatever you say, Miss Fashion Guru," Katie snigggered,

"So what should I wear then?" she asked Louise,

"Erm, how about your pink skirt and your Miffy top?" Louise offered as she picked up the t-shirt from the floor. "Looks quite classy for a Hogsmeade trip, I reckon you'll make a good impression on-"

"OK stop right there, now you're going way too far," Katie said, winking at Louise. She knew exactly what Louise was about to say, yet she didn't want to hear it. Right now Katie wasn't sure what she thought of Sam, she liked him enough the other day, but since her vision things were different.

When they had changed, Kate, Louise and Katie headed down to the school grounds to where the carriages were waiting for them. Louise had just put on the nearest clothes she could find so looked a bit scruffy but Katie was all made up as if she was going to a ball.

"I don't know why I have to go out looking like this," Katie complained to Louise as they walked down the gravel path, "We're only going into Hogsmeade,"

"Yeh, but you need to look good for-"

"No!" shouted Katie adjusting her skirt,

"Well it took me ages to do all that make-up," replied Louise, "You know he's going to be there as well so you have to keep it on to look good for him,"

"OK stop. This is ridiculous," Katie said. She stopped in the middle of the path and put her hand into the pocket of her silky pink jacket, pulling out a compact mirror. She held the mirror up to her face and stared into it, screwing up her eyes as if she was looking directly into the sun. Suddenly the make-up on Katie's face started to vanish, her newly dyed blonde hair fell from its twisted knot onto her shoulders and slowly changed back to a dark brown colour and her eyelashes resumed their usual state. Katie put the mirror back into her pocket and carried on walking, 

"Err Katie?" inquired Kate, "You're eyes?

"Yes, what about them?" Katie replied coolly,

"Well, they're still blue," mentioned Kate,

"Yeh I know. I just thought I'd keep them like that for a bit, they look quite cool, might try green eyes next time though, just to make the contrast a little less striking." Louise looked at Katie in awe, she wished she could change her appearance whenever she wanted too, but Louise knew that wasn't likely to happen.

They soon arrived at Hogsmeade and the students poured out of the horseless carriages and flooded the village with their presence. Kate helped Katie down from her seat and together her, Kate and Louise walked down into the quaint little village to see what they could find to do. 

"Ooh, doesn't Hogsville look so exciting," said a misty voice from behind them. Katie looked round, "

Yeh it does," she agreed, "And it's Hogsmeade not Hogsville," Louise laughed silently. Harriet could be in such a daze sometimes.

The three girls entered the nearest shop, which happened to be Gladrags Wizard Wear, and began to look around at the colourful garments hanging artistically around the room. Louise walked over to the pink section of clothes, followed by Katie and Kate headed off towards the purple things. 

"Ooh look Rachel, it's Louise!" exclaimed a voice from behind Katie, "Fancy seeing you here, we were going to meet up with you later, but now will do. You want to come to Madam Puddifoot's with us? It's just down the road, and we need to have a chat. Kate! Come over here, we're going down to the cafe for a drink." 

Katie slowly turned round to see Laura and Rachel stood behind her, Laura leaning on the rail of yellow t-shirts. She smiled at Katie, Katie didn't smile back.

"Come on then, lets be going," called Rachel, placing a stray curl behind her ear as she hurried Kate and Louise out of the shop. Katie started forward to follow them, 

"Err, where are you going?" asked Laura from beside Katie,

"With my friends," Katie replied blankly,

"I don't think you are. When I said a chat and a drink, I meant with the other two, not you."

"Well I can still come and listen can't I?"

"I don't think so Katie, we'll be finished with your friends later on, you can meet us at the 3 Broomsticks in say, 3 hours?" Laura laughed and rushed out the shop after Rachel. Katie was left dumbfounded. 

"Now what do I do?" she said to herself, turning to examine a pearl necklace,

"Well you could always talk to me for a minute," someone replied. Katie dropped the necklace in fright shattering it as it crashed to the hard, tiled floor, she hadn't expected a reply to her question. She bent down to scoop up the pieces. 

"Well, do you want to talk to me or not?" Katie had forgotten that she had just been spoken to but looked up from her position on the floor and into the face of her mysterious talker in remembrance. 

"Oh!" Katie exclaimed, "I err, yeh, erm, sure I'll talk to you," she stuttered,

"That's great news Katie, fancy going down to the 3 Broomsticks with me?"

"Ok, sure," she replied. Katie's mysterious talker had turned out to be none other than Sam Evanstar, why hadn't she recognised his voice at first? If she had she would have been a lot quicker to reply. But then she remembered, hadn't Sam been acting strange around her in her vision, was this an insight into what he was really like? Katie hoped not, but decided to forget this and followed Sam out of Gladrags, this was an oppertunity she couldn't miss.

As they entered the 3 Broomsticks Sam led Katie to a small table at the back of the pub. It had a blue tablecloth with daisies embroidered onto it and a small hanging light above it that gave off a purple misty haze. Katie sat down nervously, as did Sam. 

"So, I haven't really spoken to you much before Katie," he said, "But I noticed you were on your own so I thought I'd jump at the chance to get to know you better, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" Katie was in shock, but started to explain her life to Sam anyway. 

Sam sat there gazing at Katie throughout the whole afternoon and through 4 pints of Butterbeer, it was starting to make Katie feel uncomfortable. She shuffled on her chair and then said,

"OK, I have to go now. I'll see you later,"

"Oh, OK," replied Sam, crestfallen. Katie got up and left the pub and Sam behind her.  
"Phew," she thought to herself as she exited the pub,

"That was an interesting afternoon." Katie sat down on the bench outside the 3 Broomsticks and waited for Louise and Kate to return. Evetually they came, accompanied by the 'troublesome twosome' (as Katie had named them whilst waiting) and they hurried up to Katie to greet her. 

"Hiya Katie, how are you?" asked Louise happily as she parked herself on the bench next to Katie, 

"Yeh, OK," Katie replied glumly. She hated seeing her friends enjoying themselves without her.

"Cheer up Katie," said Kate as she also sat down, "Want a Wootsit?" She held out a scrumpled crisp packet to Katie, 

"No thanks," Katie replied. This was followed by an awkward silence, but,

"Bye then Louise and Kate," Rachel called, breaking the ice. Katie looked up to see Rachel and Laura walking down the street, Rachel's bracelet hanging loosely from under her jumper and Laura's skirt swaying in the breeze.

"You guys look as if you had a good time without me," Katie said sadly fiddling with the toggle on her jacket,

"Actually," began Kate, "We didn't have anything of the sort,"

"So what did you do?" Katie asked looking slightly more cheerful,

"That's it you see," Louise said, "We can't remember,"

"You can't remember. You two have the memory of a goldfish," Katie looked back down at her knees. Her friends had obviously had a good time away from her, but just didn't want her to know.

"Honestly Katie," Louise said as she saw the look of disbelief on Katie's face, "We're telling the truth. The only thing I remember about this afternoon was me and Laura sat in the 3 Broomsticks over a cup of coffee. One minute we were talking about me and then the next thing I know I'm back here with you again." Katie looked up into Louise's eyes,

"Truthfully?" she asked,

"Truthfully," Louise replied, "I wouldn't lie to you." Katie seemed satisfied with that answer and so stood up,

"Let's get back to Hogwarts," she said and together Louise, Kate and Katie headed off towards the castle arm in arm.

Back at school everything was quiet, Katie and her 2 friends had returned early so as to have the castle to themselves for a bit. Katie led them over to the Quidditch pitch where they sat in the Hufflepuff stand for a while

. "So this is what it looks like from the other end of the pitch," Katie said as she watched a couple of random Slytherins fly around on broomsticks near to the Ravenlcaw end.

"It doesn't look much different to me," commented Kate,

"Yeh but you come here like every day," Katie mentioned.

"Katie?" Louise piped from beside her, "What have you been doing all day?" Katie choked,

"Well I was in Gladrags for a while,"

"You weren't in there all afternoon though were you?"

"No I wasn't."

"So, what were you doing?"

"Well I erm, hey look at that guy!" Katie pointed onto the pitch where the Slytherin Keeper Michael Lestrange was doing loop-the-loops on his broom, Louise coughed, 

"Oh, sorry. What was the question?"

"What were you doin this afternoon?" Louise repeated,

"Err, well, OK I might as well tell you. I was in the 3 Broomsticks with Sam,"

"YOU WHAT!"screamed Kate out of surprise, "You were with Sam all afternoon? No wonder you looked so happy just before we came to meet you,

"Y-you saw me?" Katie stuttered,

"Yeh!" laughed Kate, "As we were coming to meet you. Saw you coming out of the pub looking incredibly pleased about something, but as soon as we came up to you you put on the sad face." Katie cringed, they weren't meant to have noticed that.

"Yes I had a butterbeer with Sam, he met me in Gladrags and didn't seem to be with anyone either, so we just decided to go to the 3 Broomsticks together. Well, it was actually him that decided,"

"But why didn't you tell us?" asked Louise, "It's not exactly a thing to be ashamed of, and that's coming from me." Katie laughed nervously,

"I just didn't know how you'd react," she said,

"Well what did you expect us to say? You're insania Katie, you really are." Louise slouched down in her chair and folded her arms, tutting quietly to herself. "So, did you, I mean, did anything happen between you and Sam then?" Kate asked intrigued,

"What do you mean?" Katie snapped back as she moved uncomfortably in her chair,

"I mean like, did anything happen. Did he ask you to the winter dance?"

"What? Oh. No he didn't, I totally forgot about that. But anyway, that's the end of that conversation," Katie concluded. She was relieved that relating her afternoon to Kate and Louise was over. Katie left her seat and smoothed the creases out of her skirt,

"Let's get back to the common room," she said sleepily, rubbing her eyes,

"OK," agreed Louise and Kate in unison. The evening that followed the Hogsmeade visit was drawing to a close. The sun was setting over the forbidden forest and corwds of mosquitoes fluttere lightly above the lake. The night had brought a slight chill causing the three girls to shiver as they approached the castle. Most of the castle grounds were in shadow so Katie had to be careful to watch her footing. 

** _ A/N_** Hope that wasn't too boring? Review! 


	7. Quidditch

** Quidditch**

The events of the weekend had enlightened Katie's spirits and she walked around with a new spring in her step. The Quidditch season had just begun so Kate, being seeker for the Ravenclaw team, was often absent from the common room. Louise was also busy whether it be helping Kate with her daily Quidditch practise or watching over Katie as she wrote Quibbler articles about their first week back at school. In general it was quite clear to see that the new school term was back in action and with lessons in full swing everyone was working hard.

"I'm off now," Kate called as she marched out the common room dressed in full Quidditch gear and a broom in hand, 

"Yeh see you later," Louise called back. Katie stood up from her position by the fireplace and stretched,

"Wait up Kate," she said sleepily, "I'm coming too. Could do with some fresh air, we've been cooped up inside all day." She grabbed her coat from the chair and started after Kate, 

"Woah, woah, woah," said Louise suddenly, grabbing hold of Katie's arm causing her to jerk backwards, "Since when did you want to go watch Kate practise? I thought you hated sitting in the cold watching people fly madly round obstacles catching the occasional ball and hitting each other with bats. You said it was boring, I'm suspicious,"

"Oh give over Louise," Kate replied though a slight pink tinge appeared in her cheeks as she said so. 

"Kate?" Louise asked, with a hint of realisation in her voice, "Who are you practising Quidditch with today?" Kate crossed her arms and thought deeply, 

"Well, there'll be the two Ravenclaw chasers and the keeper, both of the beaters are ill at the moment, come down with some form of mild muggle flu,"

"Ah ha!" Louise exclaimed, "That's it!" she looked at Kate as if she had just confirmed her thoughts,

"What's it?" Katie asked confused,

"That's why you're going to watch the Quidditch practise, because the Ravenclaw keeper will be there! I should have seen it coming," Louise giggled.

"I don't get you," Kate said confusedly as she rested her broom on the chair arm,

"OK," said Louise impatiently, "Put it this way. You're practising with the Ravenclaw team,"

"Except the beaters," Kate added,

"Well yeh, but anyway," Louise started again, "And who exactly is on the Ravenclaw team? There's you, Hikari Chang-Edwards, Dan Stimpson, Anna Creevey, Marcus Weasley, Peter Diablo and who else?"

"Ohh, I see," Kate laughed, "Sam Evanstar." Katie flushed bright red and flopped down onto the sofa, 

"Fine then, I won't go and watch Kate practise, I'll just stay here and get bored,"

"You won't get bored, we can play gobstones," Louise suggested, "Bye Kate, have fun," she added. Kate quickly disappeared and Louise and Katie sat in silence as they listened to her footsteps on the stone staircase then Louise disappeared to go and get her gobstones set but Katie remained on the sofa.

Kate soon returned from her Quidditch practise to announce the first Quidditch match of the season would take place the very next day. Ravenclaw would be playing against Gryffindor as Slytherin had some problem with finding a new chaser. After a quick chat and a cup of cocoa, the three girls retired to bed for a good nights sleep.

The next morning came bringing with it the anticipation of the day ahead. Katie got up as usual and then hurried to wake Kate in the bed opposite. Louise, being who she was, had already got up, washed, dressed and was now onto laying out Kate's Quidditch robes for her. Katie rolled her eyes as she walked past, muttered 'Monica' to herself, but thought it kind of Louise anyhow. 

"Kate," she called lightly as she stepped over a pile of clothes Louise was attempting to tidy up, "Get up now, your match starts in two hours and you need some breakfast." She sat down on Kate's bed and rocked her gently. Kate opened her eyes, grumbled and sat up. Katie got up off the bed and smiled at her friend before turning back to her own blue four poster. She noticed Louise had gone, as had all remains of mess, but thought nothing of it.

As soon as they were ready Katie and Kate headed off downstairs to the Great Hall for some food. As they entered the Hall, Katie saw that Louise was already there and so went to join her at the Ravenclaw table. Kate walked nervously behind her, her Quidditch robes flowing and a look of un-interest on her face,

"Come on Kate," said Katie gesturing at the bench, "Sit down." Kate slowly seated herself next to Anna Creevey, the Ravenclaw beater (now fully recovered) and put her hands together. Katie thought she looked completely washed out, but then again she always did before a match.

"Hiya," said Louise happily as they sat down, "You ready for your match Kate? I can't wait to watch it!

"Hmm, yeh," Kate replied, a slight waver in her voice. Katie reached forward and picked up a bread roll, smothering it with butter before giving it to Kate. She knew her friend wouldn't eat otherwise. Katie picked it up and gingerly took a bit, then but it back down again. Just as Katie had started to munch her way through a Quorn sausage there was a mad rustle of wings and a loud screech followed by a huge flock of multicoloured owls flying into the hall from all directions. Many students ducked to avoid being hit by levitating parcels and others reached up to grab letters written on yellowing parchment. Louise jumped backwards off the bench to catch a lilac coloured enevelope, landing in a heap on the floor. Kate on the other hand simply put her hand in the air to grab a small folded piece of parchment - giving Louise a you-don't-have-to-make-a-drama-out-of-everything look at the same time.

"What's that you've got Louise?" Katie asked peering across the table,

"Oh nothing," Louise replied hastily, stuffing the envelope into her pocket,

"Fair enough, What's that?" She picked up Kate's note and read 'Good luck for the match today, love mum and dad',

"Aww that's nice," said Katie as she put the letter back on the table. As suddenly as the owls had come, a swarm of excited students moved past them and started to pile out of the hall. Kate coughed then stood up, before hurrying out of the hall anxiously without saying goodbye to her two friends. 

"Come on then," Louise said, taking a final gulp of milk, "Let's go." Katie got off the long polished wooden bench, grabbed a few grapes and headed out of the hall with Louise to go and get seats at the Quidditch pitch.

When they arrived at the Quidditch pitch Katie noticed that the two teams, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor were stood on the grass crowded round their captains. Katie and Louise climbed the steep tower then edged their way along to two blue plastic seats near to the front of the spectators stand. Katie looked around her. The sun was shining and reflecting off the dew on the Quidditch pitch making it glisten. The viewing stands were slowly filling up with students carrying banners and wearing scarlet or blue pointed hats. She could see Kate down below, clutching her broom and shifting her feet nervously. 

"What is she worried about," Katie though to herself, "She's one of the amazing seekers I've ever seen, you agree Louise?" No answer. Katie turned to see that her friend had deserted her, "Louise?" she called in surprise, looking madly around her, "Oh well," Katie muttered, turning back to the pitch just in time to see the teams mounting their brooms for the start of the match. 

"Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the season!" called Professor Bloom from the teacher's stand, "Today we have Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor. Playing for Ravenclaw is Evanstar (Katie gasped), Creevey, Weasley, Chang-Edwards, Stimpson, Diablo and Wizadora." The Ravenclaws cheered loudly and Katie whooped as Kate took off.

"And for Gryffindor is Goyle, Lorica, Smith, Weasley, Weasley, Shacklebolt and Brown." This time the Gryffindor fans exploded loudly.

"And shortly, let the game begin!"

As soon as everyone was in position the referee blew her whistle and the game began. Screams and shouts were emanating from all stand along with the occasional chant and the commentary from Miranda Jordan could just be heard over the noise. 

"And it's nil-nil to both sides at the moment," she shouted, "Stimpson has the Quaffle, great pass there to Chang-Edwards, she dives forward, look at that! What talent this girl has! Quaffle to Diablo, he drops it, Quaffle to Stimpson, he drops it, Quaffle back to Diablo, Diablo shoots, HE SCORES!" The Ravenclaw stand erupted in cheers, Katie stood up to join them. "It's 10-nil to Ravenclaw." Katie sat back down but stretched upwards to get a better view of the Ravenclaw team, 

"Back," whispered a voice. Katie turned to see Louise had returned,

"Where did you go?" she asked,

"Er, to get a drink," Louise replied,

"But-" Louise was saved from having to answer another question as the Gryffindor end cheered noisily.

"And it's 10 all so far," commentated Miranda, "Weasley has the Quaffle, he passes it to Smith of Gryffindor, Smith dives - ooh, that looks nasty." There was a loud gasp from each stand as a bludger whacked the chaser in the face, directed by Anna Creevey. The referee blew her whistle to let Janie Smith land to go and see the school nurse for her blooded up nose. A first year, Sophie Atkins, took her place meanwhile.

"And they're back in play," called the commentator, "Smith replaced by Sophie Atkins and Atkins has the Quaffle, passes to Shacklebolt, intercepted by Chang-Edwardss, she spins, she dives, she zooms, SHE SCORES!" Katie and Louise whistled loudly to congratulate Hikari Chang-Edwards on her goal, 

"20-10 to Ravenclaw and play continues, Diablo of Ravenclaw has the Quaffle, he swerves to avoid a bludger directed by Lorica, passes to Stimpson. Ooh did you see that spin by Creevey? Anyway, Stimpson still has possession of the Quaffle, he swerves round the Gryffindor beaters, HE'S GONNA SCORE! Oh no, the Quaffle is intercepted by Keeper Goyle, Bad luck Ravenclaw." The Gryffindor end cheered, Katie could see Rachel Felton jumping up and down wildly.

"Now Weasley has the Quaffle, is that the snitch? Yes it is! Brown has seen it, she zooms towards the Ravenclaw post, tailed by Wizadora, it's a close race. Oh and the snitch has vanished, wait what's that, oh, Gryffindor have scored! I think that was Richard Weasley. but I'm not sure. So, 20-20 is the score. And the snitch is back!" Everyone craned their necks to try and get closer to the chase between Kate and Charlotte, but not succeeding as they seemed to be going up higher and higher.

"Ooh this game is good," squealed Louise, pressing the badge on her chest causing it to shout out 'Ravenclaw rule!' in a high squeaky voice. 

"Go go Ravenclaw!" called a voice from behind, who Katie recognised to be Julie.

So the game went on, uneventful for a while with the odd goal, but still managing to keep the crown hooked. After about an hour things started to happen once more. 

"The Quaffle is in Ravenclaw possession," called Miranda, "Stimpson has it now and he's moving like wildfire, look at him go! He passed to Chang-Edwards, she's above the goal, she shoots, SHE SCORES AGAIN! That's 70-40 to Ravenclaw." Katie clapped happily, smiling ecstatically, she hadn't enjoyed herself this much in a long time. "The snitch has returned!" Miranda commented, "And Wizadora's seen it, look at her go!" There was a chant of 'Wizadora, we adore her' from the Ravenclaw stand, Katie joined in the cheering for her friend.

"Look at her go! She's sure got talent that Wizadora! She circles Goyle, she can see the snitch! Wizadora stretches out, but is knocked off course by Brown and skids to the left. But she's back on track, tailing Brown, getting nearer and nearer, oh and Gryffindor score! 70-50 to Ravenclaw." Katie groaned, but at least they were still in the lead. "Wizadora is gaining on the snitch! Brown seems to have slowed, but Wizadora is still going strong! She reaches out, I don't believe it, SHE'S CAUGHT IT! Kate Wizadora has caught the snitch! That's 220-50 to Ravenclaw and game over for Gryffindor. I'm Miranda Jordan, signing off." 

Katie saw Kate punch the air ecstatically as she swerved down to the ground. As soon as she'd landed a flood of Ravenclaws surrounded her, lifting her up into the air. Katie and Louise hurried down the stairs and went to congratulate Kate, patting her on the back. The air was filled with song and the chant of 'Wizadora, we adore her' rung round the school grounds. The Gryffindors trundled past glumly giving cold stares to the members of the Ravenclaw team who just smiled back sarcastically. Kate and the team continued to be praised all the way up to the castle and throughout the night, leaving the three friends thoroughly exhausted by the early morning and subconsciously singing, "Wizadora, we adore her' to themselves. 

** _ A/N _**yay! I like writing quidditch matches! might just have to have another one later! And don't fogert, 'wizadora, we adore her!' Please review! 


	8. Kate's Date

** Kate's Date**

"Louise what are you doing?" Katie asked as she leant over her bed to pick up her school tie,  
  
"Oh nothing," her friend replied quickly,

"What's that you've got then?" Katie tried again,  
  
"Nothing," was the reply. Sighing katie stood up and put on her sweeping black robes, then pretending she was going to get her hairbrush, walked past Louise and attempted to see what she was looking at over her shoulder - except she only managed to get a glimpse of what looked like a photgraph. Louise noticed however so quickly scruched up what she was holding before depositing it on the otherside of the room between her and Kate's beds. Katie eyed her suspiciously then hurried into the bathroom.

When Katie, Kate and Louise were up, ready and had eaten breakfast they made their way once more to the divination classroom. When they arrived everyone had already entered the room so they quickly scampered up the ladder and into their seats one after another. Professor Aurum, Katie noticed, had already begun the lesson but thankfully wasn't aware of their late entrance.  
  
"OK then class, please take hold of a teacup, fill it with tea then slowly dispose of the fine liquid down your throats," said Professor Aurum mystically, Katie giggled, "Once you have performed this instruction, open your copies of the Dream Oracle and turn to chapter 3. From here you will be able to interpret your tea leaves and predict your fate." Katie giggled again, she really didn't believe in all this rubbish. Julie turned round and glared at her - she was rather a fan of Professor Aurum's supposed talents. After this brief lesson explanation the class started to stir and there was a rush towards the shelves of teacups. Louise got up eagerly and hurried off to get three cups for her and her friends. Katie remained seated.  
  
"What is the point in this?" she asked Kate who was sat on a chintz arm chair, flicking through chapter 3 of the Dream Oracle, 

"Dunno," she replied looking up.

"Here we go guys," said Louise enthusiastically slamming down the three teacups onto the tablecloth, sloshing tea everywhere. "Oops," she said trying to mop it up with her sleeve,

"Here," Katie offered, "Scourigfy,"  
  
"Thanks," Louise replied, looking at Katie in admiration. Katie picked up the nearest pink floral teacup, downed the drink in one then stared into the bottom of the cup.   
  
"So," she said, "Let's see what's going to happen to me." She flicked through to chapter 3 of her textbook and held it next to her tea dregs, "Hmmm, looks like I'm either going to die at 19, lose a pair of socks or look incredibly stupid staring at mush in the bottom of a cup," Louise laughed, Kate rolled her eyes then stared into her own cup,   
  
"Well I think you're in luck girl," she said, "Looks like I'm going to fall into a hole and break my neck, doesn't sound too good does it?" She laughed, "But then if I turn my cup this way - it looks like I'm going to fall off a cliff. So either way, my ending to life isn't gonna be great." Katie snorted trying to surpress a laugh as Professor Aurum walked behind them, giving Katie a reproachful look.  
  
"Now then ladies," she said picking up Louise's cup in one hand and Kate's in the other, "This cup here," she nodded to Louise's tea leaves, "From using my deciphering powers I can predict your fate. Hec hem," there was a pause, "You had cornflakes for breakfast today, am I correct?"  
  
"HA!" Louise shouted, alerting the whole class, "Yes I did, but that's not a prediction! You know I had cornflakes because I asked if you'd finished with them!" Professor Aurum narrowed her eyes then looked into Kate's cup,   
  
"And you my dear," she began, the whole class was now in silence, amazed and amused at what she would come up with next. "You, hmm, let me see. This looks like a phoenix, ooh my dear, yes. The phoenix. This is fascinating my dear, who's cup is this?" Kate raised her hand and Professor Aurum nodded at her then carried on, "Yes my dear Kate, this is really interesting. The phoenix, yes. The phoenix is a sure sign dear Kate, the phoenix can predict great things." Another long pause then, "Kate, your tea leaves predict that you wil go to sleep tonight!" she called dramatically, Kate had to cover her mouth to hide her laughter, "And do you often sleep my dear Kate?" Professor aurum asked,   
  
"Well yeah," Kate replied, raising her eyebrows, 

"Well my dear, you are sure to sleep tonight!"

School days came and went and it was soon nearing the end of November. This may seem like a normal time of year to most but for the students of Hogwarts it meant that the Winter Dance was looming upon them. The school was hectic. Everybody that had left it too late was trying to get a date at the last minute and pupils were desperately pulling together outfits in order to dress to impress their partners. Through the excitement of the rest of the school Katie, Kate and Louise had still managed to stay single and had lost all desire to even think about going to the Winter Dance.

It was Sunday, and exactly a week until the dance. Katie lay on the sofa in the Ravenclaw common room with her eyes closed, trying to block out the excited cries coming from the girls who were eagerly swapping dresses in the corner. "Katie?" Kate asked gently as she took hold of Katie's arm and heaved her upwards into a sitting position. "Yeh?" replied Katie,

"Let's go for a walk, it's getting on my nerves listening to that lot," she gestured in the direction of the 4th year Ravenclaws Katie had been listening to. Katie stood up and walked over to the girls dormitory, "You coming Louise?" she asked as she opened the door,

"What?" Louise replied sharply, slamming something down on the table as she said so. 

"Me and Kate are going for a walk and were wondering if you wanted to come," Katie repeated,

"Oh," said Louise, "I-er, I'll stay here I think." Louise picked up the thing she had slammed down and slipped it under a book,

"What's that?" Katie asked,

"Nothing. Go for your walk I'll see you later." Katie eyed Louise suspiciously, but turned and left the room anyway. 

"Looks like it's just me and you then," she said to Kate as she re entered the common room. Kate stood up and together they left the Ravenclaw tower and stepped out into the main school. "I wonder what's up with Louise," Katie commented as they walked along a corridor lined with pictures of famous wizards, "She's been acting all weird lately,"

"Mm," said Kate,

"She won't talk to me much and I reckon she's trying to avoid me,"

"Mmm," said Kate again,

"Kate? Do you know something that I don't?" Katie stopped in the middle of the corridor to face Kate, 

"What? No, of course I don't, I only know as much as you do," Katie was about to interrogate Kate more, but decided against it, she'd get the information out of Kate eventually.  
  
They were roaming round the school for what seemed forever and eventually decided to sit down on a stone gargoyle bench in the Great Hall. As soon as they'd sat down a tall, gangly looking boy stepped up towards them, Katie sat up immediately, 

"Hiya," he said nervously, "I-I'm Simon," he smoothed back his brown hair,

"Hi, I'm Katie and this is Kate," Katie had taken the lead, any opportunity to grab a guy for the dance had to be taken. Simon smiled at Katie but then turned to Kate, Katie scowled but then noticed he was a Slytherin so decided it didn't matter.

"Er hi Kate," he said, "You a 4th year?"

"No, 2ND year actually," Kate blushed, she'd never been told she looked older than she was before, especially not by a 5th year Slytherin, and a good looking one at that. 

"Oh OK," Simon replied looking at his feet, "I thought you were older than that, never mind." He turned on his heels and sighed,

"Wait," Kate called after him. Simon turned round, looked at Kate, seemed to have changed his mind and said, 

"You wanna go to the dance with me?" Katie rolled her eyes and crossed her legs. 

"Yeh sure," replied Kate out of shock, "I'll meet you in the entrance hall at 7:00 next Sunday,"

"It's a date," Simon said. He winked at Kate and then sped off in the opposite direction.

"Oh no," said Kate, "What just happened there?"

"I think you just got yourself a partner," Katie replied matter of factly but sadly at the same time, why was she the only person in the whole entire school that couldn't get a date?

After this event was over and Kate had had chance to settle down, she and Katie headed back to the Ravenclaw common room for a goodnights sleep. They didn't talk much on the way back, Kate was musing over her catch and Katie was silently fuming, silently wishing that Kate hadn't got a dance partner. 

"But do I really wish that?" Katie thought to herself, "Am I really that selfish?" She shook her head as if trying to get the thought out of her mind. Kate didn't notice. "But why can't I get a partner?" she thought, "Why me?" Katie stamped her feet on the stone steps ferociously. Kate didn't notice, she was trapped in her own little fantasy world. "Her own perfect world," Katie muttered under her breath. They soon reached the common room and Kate wandered off towards the window seat, looking slightly spaced out and not quite with it. Anna Creevey and Hikari Chang-Edwards were sat on the sofa having a conversation about Quidditch and Katie swore she could hear people from every direction asking each other to the dance. "OK, now I'm getting paranoyed," Katie thought angrily, "I am _ not_ the only person in this school that doesn't have a date. I can't be," and with that she stormed off into the dormitory, slammed the door and threw herself upon her freshly made bed. Katie didn't notice that Louise was in there, nor did she care. Right now the only thing that mattered to her was getting a partner for the dance, and even if it meant going up to Sam Evanstar and asking him face to face she was prepared to do it, even if there was the possibility he would turn her down. 

** _ A/N_** review please! (and for your info Katie, this is not an inscest (or however u spell it), its just co incidence! it really is!) (and I do apologise Kate, I didn't think about your brother when I wrote this, honestly!) 


	9. Louise's Sinister Secret

** Louise's Sinister Secret**

That night was unusually hot for the middle of winter. Outside the trees were swaying in the breeze, making snow plummet to the ground and cause enormous explosions as they hit the surface of the lake. Most of the lake however was frozen over, and during the day many students used it as an ice rink to slide about on. The sky was jet black and free from the blanket of cloud that usually covered it, creating no reason for the night to be so warm. Katie was lying in her four poster bed in the Ravenclaw dormitory, wide awake with her eyes open. She'd given up trying to sleep a while ago and was now lying on top of her duvet with the window open to let in as much cold air as possible. Katie looked around, none of the other students in her room seemed to be over heating as they slept, curled up in their royal blue blankets happily dreaming about unicorns, witches and big pink castles. Katie sighed and sat up. She stretched for a moment then slipped on her black school shoes and navy dressing gown. Her mind whirred for a second as she tried to decide where she was going to go and what she was going to do. She decided upon the common room, and so headed there for glass of cold water. Katie was desperate to try anything to cool herself down. It was only the early hours of the morning, 2:00am to be precise, so no one else was up and about. She'd have the whole common room to herself for a while. Katie got up off her bed and strolled over towards the door, she carefully turned the rusty metallic handle and cringed as the hinges made an awful screeching noise. Luckily no one heard, Katie didn't want anyone else to wake, this night she wanted to be alone. As she made her way down the short corridor to the main common room Katie clumsily tripped over her own feet and landed with a thump on the floor.

"Shhh!" whispered a voice. 

Katie froze. She wasn't alone. Carefully she regained her balance and stood flat against the wall, the common room was silent. Just as Katie was about to move there came another sound. As if someone had just sat down on a material covered armchair. Katie froze again. The room remained silent for a moment, then whoever was in the common room must have decided it was safe, as they once more began to talk. 

"We don't have much time," the voice said, "The dance is in six days time and I really need a partner." Katie gasped, that voice belonged to Louise! What was she doing up in the middle of the night? Who was she with? "Who's there?" Louise asked nervously, she'd obviously heard Katie's gasp. Katie remained still and didn't reply to her friend's question. Louise stood up to look around, and then sat back down again thinking the coast was clear. "So, what do you say?" she asked, "Please go with me, I know you want to."

"Well I suppose I could go with you," said a male voice, "But what about who I wanted to ask?"

"Yes please!" squealed Louise, "It would mean a lot to me and would be a great help. Stuff the person you were going to ask, you'll do a lot better with me on your arm."

"Help?"  
  
"Yeh, not for me, for something else but never mind that." Katie was puzzled, why was Louise up in the middle of the night to ask someone to the Winter Dance and what was a great help? Katie made a mental note to ask her friend these questions in the morning. There was something else Katie wanted answering as well, who was Louise going to the dance with? This was something Katie decided she wanted answering now, so she once again peered around the stone corner. Katie looked around the room gingerly, she could see Louise sat on an armchair over in the corner, if she looked over in Katie's direction she would be sure to see her. Katie couldn't however see who Louise was talking to, whoever it was, was sat in another chair with its back to her. The conversation continued. 

"So you'll be my partner then?" questioned Louise hopefully,

"Yeh OK, if it makes you happy," the voice replied, "But I do actually need to get back now, must catch up on some sleep."

Meanwhile Katie was wondering how she could get to see the mystery man when fortunately for her he stood up and turned towards the boys dormitory. Katie got the shock of her life. It was Sam Evanstar! She was in too much disbelief to make a noise, so compromised by leaving her mouth wide open. 

"How could she do that to me?" Katie fumed silently, "She knows I like Sam! The complete son of a witch!" Katie turned in anger and stormed back into the dormitory. She flung herself onto her bed and stared face down at her pillow, now sobbing silently to herself.

The next morning arrived very suddenly, too suddenly for Katie's liking. She listened as the rest of the Ravenclaw dormitory awoke and started to move about, banging drawers, chattering happily and rustling sheets. She heard the voices of her fellow students whispering and shouting and getting prepared for the day and week ahead. Katie however remained in her bed, her eyes closed to trick people into thinking she was asleep. She didn't answer to Kate's morning calls, and only sat up when she was sure the whole room was empty of students. Katie carefully stepped out of bed and pulled on the nearest clothes she could find, her hair was a mess but she didn't care, in fact she didn't care about anything much at the moment. Katie dawdled out of the Ravenclaw tower and made her way to the Hogwarts grounds, she wanted to get away from everything even if it meant skipping school for a day. The heat of the night had now vanished, and instead was replaced by the cold, biting frost. Delicate snowflakes were falling from the sky and landing on the ground as if icing a cake. The lake was frozen over so that the giant squid had to reside under water until the spring weather came to unleash him. Despite the bitter winter weather, Katie was trundling along, dragging her feet through the snow wearing only a mid-length pink skirt and a hot pink t-shirt. Her school shoes were scooping up the snow like spoons and her hands lay limply at her sides. As Katie walked passed a weeping willow, it's long branches frozen partially below the lake's surface, she stopped and dropped herself down onto the floor. The cold didn't seem to bother her as she rolled up balls of snow between her hands, throwing them across the ice towards the owls that had decided to rest there. Immediately the owls dispersed leaving Katie without a target. 

"Even the owls hate me," Katie thought to herself as she pounded the snow beside her to water. She sighed as the images of the previous night haunted her, "How could Louise do that to me?" she thought, "I thought she knew how I felt about Sam, obviously not. Maybe all this time she's wanted him to herself but has never mentioned it. Maybe she thought it'd upset me if I knew. But I still don't get why she would do that to me, I thought she was my friend. I can't believe she went behind my back! I wonder if Kate knows anything about this." Her thoughts were interrupted as a large snowball hit the back of her bare neck, "Ouch!" Katie exclaimed, turning around frantically to see who was using her for target paractise. There was no one there. Katie stood up to elevate herself for a better view when out of no where another snowball came flying directly towards her. Luckily Katie saw this one so managed to duck just in time, "Who's there?" she called, "Leave me alone!" Katie stared in front of her and to her surprise saw a trail of body-less footprints coming towards her. Katie smiled in recognition, "Ha ha ha, very funny Kate," she said sarcastically, sitting down once more. The footprints soon regained an owner as Kate appeared from out of no where, a large silvery cloak draped over her sleeve.

"How come you didn't come to astronomy this morning? Professor Bloom was wondering where you'd got to, thought you might be ill or something so she sent me to the hospital wing to see if you were there. You didn't miss much though, the lesson was based around sky map reading skills," she paused, "Katie, are you OK?"  
  
"Hmm," Katie muttered, though Kate didn't seem to think this was a satisfactory reply so pressed her further, 

"Katie what's wrong?" she asked, "You don't seem quite, with it, this morning,"  
  
"I'm fine," Katie lied,  
  
"No you're not," said Kate, "Now tell me what's up before I really do take you to the hospital wing." Katie sighed deeply, poked her finger around in the snow next to her and sighed again. "Katie," Kate replied sternly, "What _ is_ the matter with you? I don't think I can even remember the last time you were this quiet!" Katie smiled weakly at Kate's little joke, then looked away across the lake.  
  
"OK," she said glumly, "It's Sam, no it's no it's Louise,"  
  
"Louise?" Kate asked,  
  
"Yeh, she's been acting really strange recently, first with the photo in the dormitory, then the letter she recieved, then not wanting to come for a walk with us-"  
  
"That doesn't seem so bad, does it?" Kate queried, "I mean, between you and me we've always known Louise can be a bit strange sometimes." Katie giggled,   
  
"Yes, but this is different. Oh Kate," Katie sighed again, Kate looked slightly puzzled and didn't seem to quite understand at what her friend was getting at. "Kate?"  
  
"Yes Katie?"  
  
"How long have I liked Sam Evanstar?"  
  
"Well all of last year and most of this year," Kate replied, still looking confused,  
  
"Exactly," confirmed Katie, "And how long has Louise liked him?"  
  
"Erm, never? Not that I've known of anyway,"  
  
"Exactly," Katie confirmed again. She turned away and stared at the Forbidden Forest. Kate was now looking more puzzled than ever,   
  
"But Katie, I don't understand what you're trying to tell me," she said, "I mean, what does Sam have to do with Louise?"  
  
"Yeh, I was wondering when we were going to get to this part," mumbled Katie, "Yes, last night,"  
  
"What happened?" Kate interrupted  
,  
"Let me tell the story!" was Katie's reply, "Well last night I couldn't sleep so I decided to go to the common room for a drink. When I got there I realised I wasn't the only one there, in the corner Louise was sat in a chair talking to someone. She was asking someone to the ball,"  
  
"And?" questioned Kate,   
  
"Shh, well, erm, well, the thing is, the person she was asking to the ball was Sam. Sam Evanstar." Katie stopped talking, she felt as if she _ couldn't_ carry on talking.  
  
"But," Kate started, "But, Sam, Louise? You?" Katie looked Kate in the eyes,  
  
"I know, I can't believe it."   
  
The two friends turned away from each other and looked out across the lake. The sun was starting to peep through the clouds and was glaring upon the school, bright and welcoming. The snow on the trees was starting to melt, dripping water onto unlucky students. The break time bell had just rung and pupils were piling out of the school via the main entrance to enjoy what was left of the snow, unaware of any sorts of worries or problems. This excitement and carefree attitude effected Katie badly, causing her to get up suddenly and hurry back to the common room, shoving past students and leaving Kate on her own by the lake's edge.

For the rest of the day Katie remained in a bad mood. For the rest of the day Kate tried to make Katie in a good mood, but nothing seemed to work. Not even Katie's favourite dish of 'Quorn' sausages could make her happy. She had avoided Louise all day too, every time she appeared around the corner Katie would change direction, every time she came to sit with her Katie would get up and claim she'd finished and if Louise even dared try to talk to her Katie blanked her out all together. She wasn't going to let Louise get away with it that easily, even if she didn't know that Katie knew about her and Sam.

As the end of the week drew nearer, so did the Winter Dance. Katie's mood had improved for the better, thanks to Kate's Quidditch skills which proved to be better than first thought at the weeks Quidditch match, Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff. After a rocky start, the match was won outright by Ravenclaw, Kate catching the Snitch when they were 250 points up. This had made Katie slightly happier, to the joy of Kate, in fact it had nearly made her lose all her troubles and worries, but nothing was going to let her forget why she was acting miserable. Louise on the other hand seem to be joyous and excited at every given moment. She nearly drove Katie insane with her outbreaks of 'Fame!' and dance moves to match. Katie tried to be brave and sit through it, normally she would have joined in and so had to restrain herself. What puzzled Katie though was the fact that Louise hadn't seemed to have noticed that Katie was continuously blanking her out, forgetting her and interrupting her conversations. She hadn't seemed to pay any attention to it all.   
  
"Does she actually have any idea?" Katie wondered, "If I was her I'd have found the motive to ask what the problem is by now." So for the rest of the week, Katie remained annoyed with Louise and depressed that she still hadn't got a dance partner yet.

Friday came and went, it was only two days left until the dance and Katie was still left without a date. The whole entire school appeared to be talking about it, even though many of the first years weren't invited. The problem Katie now faced was getting someone in the year above to notice her, as that was the only way she was going to manage to get to go to the dance. Unfortunately however, most of the 3rd years and above didn't pay much attention to their juniors, usually ignoring them all together. Getting someone to notice her was going to be harder than Katie first anticipated. It was Saturday morning. The sky was bleak and the occasional lonely snowflake would fall gracefully to the ground. Professor Sortilege the Charms teacher was flitting around the Great Hall, sprinkling fake snow over the statues and levitating welcoming candles into the air. Christmas trees were being carefully arranged around the edges of the hall by Mr Procella the gamekeeper, so as to leave room for the dancers the following night. Professor Lubella sat at the head of the teacher's table, smiling happily as she looked around at the festive decorations whilst digging into a large portion of chocolate cake. Most of the students were sat at their house tables eating breakfast, including Louise and Kate, and Katie who had managed to position herself so she wasn't anywhere near Louise. The long wooden tables were filled with the delights of Christmas even though it was a fortnight away till the day itself. Louise and Kate had both helped themselves to roast potatoes, turkey and various other vegetables and were eating furiously as if there was no tomorrow. Katie on the other hand was looking worse than ever, the worries and pressures of the week had begun to settle in, making her feel exhausted and fed up. Kate seemed to have noticed,  
  
"You not eating anything Katie?" she asked caringly, spooning carrots onto Katie's empty plate, "You really should you know." Katie sighed,  
  
"OK then," she said, "But just a little bit." She picked up her fork and was about to start eating when,   
  
"Quieten down please students," called Professor Lubella. "Now I know I don't usually make much of an appearance at breakfast time, but today your routine will be slightly different and I thought talking to you here would be the best option. Anyone that isn't here this morning, can someone please tell them the informations, thanks." She paused, beaming at the school then continued, "Right, now where was I, oh yes. As you will all know, tomorrow night is the evening of the Winter Dance. It will take place between 7:00pm and 1:00am ao make sure you get some sleep tonight!" The hall erupted into cheers for the excitement of the dance, Katie groaned. "Anyway," said Lubella, "Now you all know the times for the dance tomorrow and I think you should be all right in getting here. Though there is one problem that many of you have been coming to see me about. What are we going to wear? You ask. Therefore this afternoon there will be a special Hogsmeade visit for anyone that wishes to go and buy a new outfit. Those not going to the dance must remain in the castle."   
  
"Great," Katie muttered, "I'm stuck here for the day whilst everyone else goes out and has fun clothes shopping."  
  
There was another explosion of cheers from the school at the sound of this information.  
  
"Yay!" cried Kate, "I get to go! I can choose a new dress!" Katie remained silent. 

"And finally," concluded Lubella, "As I have noticed that not everyone in the hall is looking forward to the dance, I have arranged something else for them this afternoon. Anyone here who wishes to go to the dance, come to the Great Hall a the beginning of the afternoon where, thanks to Professor Sortilege here," she gestured towards the Charms teacher who smiled back excitedly, "We have arranged a sort of muggle dating service, something I picked up whilst on holiday." Lubella laughed and the hall fell silent, confused as to what a 'dating service' was. Katie's heart jumped for joy, maybe she would have chance to go to the dance afterall. Lubella coughed, "Yes well, a muggle dating service is when boys and girls like yourself come together and you choose yourself a date, in this instance you will be able to choose a partner for tomorrow night."  
  
"Ooh, I went to a speed dating class when I was on holiday!" Katie heard Rachel chatter from the Gryffindor table.   
  
"Carry on with the food," finished Professor Lubella. From then onwards the students that were sat in silence, sulking because they couldn't go to the dance, were now talking excitedly, Katie included.  
  
"I might get chance to go to the dance!" she squealed to Kate, "I doubt many people will turn up this afternoon though, bet most people will be off into Hogsmeade,"  
  
"Yeh," agreed Kate, "But you can always hope for the best. I think I'll pop into Gladrags later on with Louise, I've seen a nice dress in there that I like,"  
  
"Cool," said Katie.   
  
Breakfast was soon over and all the students piled out of the hall and headed towards their dormitories to prepare for the afternoon's event. Katie wondered who else would turn up at the dating service, but decided against asking people as she didn't want to embarrass herself. Instead, she headed towards the library to relax and find a good book that she could use to settle her nerves. 

** _ A/N_** gosh that Louise can be a bit of a (w)itch sometimes! Please review and just to keep Katie happy, I'd like her to know that there is a reason behind this! 


	10. Date With Death

"Bye then Katie," called Kate cheerfully as she left her friend stood on the steps up to the castle.

"Yeh, see you," Katie replied, sounding not quite as excited.

It was the afternoon of the special Hogsmeade visit and Katie was waving off her friends as they hopped into the carriages that would take them down to the village. As Katie had not got a date for the Winter Dance she wasn't going on this trip and instead was staying at Hogwarts where a muggle 'Dating Service' would be held that afternoon for all students to find a last minute dance partner. Katie had decided that she would go along to see what was happening, and at the same time she was secretly wishing she would be able to find a date.

As the last carriage pulled out of the Hogwarts drive, Katie turned on her heels and headed back into the school. Not many pupils were around so she would be able to get some quiet time to herself.

"Ooo!" exclaimed Katie as she peered at her watch to see the time, a passing first year turned to look at her. Katie cringed, "I best be off now," she thought to herself and headed towards the Great Hall to attend the afternoon's event.

As she entered the Hall Katie looked around her, scented candles were suspended from the ceiling, pink confetti was scattered across the cold flagstone floor and every so often there would be an outbreak of 'Love is in the air' from the resident suits of armour. Katie cringed again, how cheesy could you get. Anyhow, she wasn't going to let this put her off. She marched straight down the centre of the Hall to the main desk where Lubella was sat handing out leaflets to all the students, passing levitating Cupid's arrows as she went.

"Ahh Katie," said Lubella softly as Katie arrived at the head of the Hall, "How can I help you today? Take a look at this and follow the instructions, you'll be on your way to love if you do!"

Katie forced herself to laugh, taking the leaflet out of Lubella's outstretched hand as she did so. She decided to sit down at her house bench, where she noticed there were several other lonely students also looking for dance partners.

'Looking for love?' Katie read, 'Then this is the place for you! Welcome to Lubella and Sortilege's fantastic muggle dating service, where all lonely hearts want to hang!'

Katie threw the folded paper down onto the table, unimpressed as to what the afternoon had to offer, when something caught her eye. At the end of the Ravenclaw table was Louise!

"But," Katie mused, "I thought, Louise and Sam?" she shook her head in confusion but at the same time was curious as to what Louise was up to.

"Is she going to the dance with Sam or not?" Katie thought, "All this time I thought she was and it looks like she isn't, I hope it's not too late to ask Sam to the dance!" Katie smiled but her thoughts were interrupted as Professor Sortilege began to speak.

"Welcome," he said excitedly, "Hopefully this afternoon will allow all of you to be able to go to the Winter Dance, I know I will be!" he turned and winked at Professor Lubella who flushed pink.

"Anyway," he continued, "Please read the insides of your booklets and let the dating begin!" Sortilege clapped happily and then stepped down from his podium.

Katie sighed and opened her leaflet, " 'What kind of person are you?' " she read, " 'Girly, Sporty, Bookish, Lazy or Cute?' "

Katie giggled, "OK she said, "I'm girly." A large pink heart appeared over her choice then the second question was highlighted,

" 'Choose one word to describe yourself. Happy, Sad, Funny, Pretty or Fantasmagorical' "

Katie laughed so loudly the rest of the Hall turned to look at her, she buried her head in her booklet, "Fantasmagorical," she whispered and once again a pink heart appeared by her choice.

Once Katie had finished the last question ('What is your favourite sock colour?') she placed her answers in a box at the end of the table along with everyone elses. Katie could see that some people were already talking with other students and trying to get partners before the results came out. Katie however remained seated, though her gaze was upon Louise who was currently sat with a long, blonde haired boy who looked as if he was about 4 years younger than she was. After a few moments conference between Lubella and Sortilege, Professor Lubella stepped up to the podium.

"OK," she began, "The results are in and I can tell you that every person here will be able to go to the Winter Dance!"

The Hall erupted into applause, Katie joined in, cheering loudly.

"But before you can go you all need to know who you're going with!" Katie swallowed hard and breathed deeply, wondering who she would be paired with. "As I call out your names please come to the front to meet your partner, then go over to a table somewhere and we'll leave you, erm, to talk!"

Lubella waved her wand in a figure of eight and several two seater tables appeared around the students, laden with tea cups, flowers and mint humbugs.

"Emily Granger-Day and Dan Stimpson." The two students stood up, walked nervously to the front of the hall and faced each other. After a moments awkward silence they shook hands and headed off towards a table near the back of the hall.

"Philippa Patil and Davie Flint," continued Lubella. Pip and Davie gave each other a quick hug before seating themselves at a small table with a blue checked tablecloth.

Professor Lubella continued to read out the couples names until there were only a few student left and it was Katie's turn,

"Katie Lovegood-Davill and Freddy Longbottom."

It took a moment for Katie to realise she had to actually go up and meet Freddy, but it eventually sunk in and she followed her new found partner to a table. They sat in silence for a moment, looking around and fidgeting awkwardly.

"Well, erm, hi," said Feddy,

"Yeh hi," Katie replied nervously, fiddling with the buttons on her jacket uncomfortably, she wasn't too great when it came to talking to people of the opposite sex.

"My name's Freddy Longbottom and I'm a first year," Freddy added,

"Erm, I'm Katie Lovegood and I'm a second year," Katie repeated, "Are you Neville's son?" she asked,

"Yeh," replied Freddy.

Katie smiled in amazement, everyone knew that Neville Longbottom was the best Minister for Magic the Ministry had ever seen, and now she was going to the Winter Dance with his offspring!

"Wow," said Katie, "My mum used to be friends with your dad when they were at school, I wonder why I've never met you before." Freddy shrugged but his face brightened as he realised something.

"Actually, come to think of it your mum's Luna Lovegood right? Well I come to your house every year, in the summer holidays with my mum Ginny, my dad's usually busy though so he doesn't come,"

"You do?" enquired Katie, surprised. She'd never seen this person in her life.

"Yep, every 10th August. My mum says you're 'friends of the family'. When I do come round you're usually in your room, well that's what mum says anyway."

"Oh yeh, I remember now," said Katie smiling, "You're one of those families I try to avoid because I don't know them very well and just end up sat downstairs trying to make conversation all day, no offence or anything,"

"None taken," replied Freddy smiling. "Well now we've got that sorted, shall I meet you at 7:00 tomorrow night?"

"Yeh sure, in the entrance hall," added Katie. She smiled to herself, Freddy seemed to be a nice enough person, "Bring on the dance," she muttered under her breath.

The afternoon was drawing to a close and soon the Hogsmeade visitors would be returning from their trip. Katie was wandering along a corridor on the 10th floor, wondering what to do with herself as she admired the paintings hanging on the wall. The school was deadly silent. Katie looked out a window to see the Hogwarts grounds looking empty and lonely, not even the birds were making a noise and the giant squid seemed to be in hibernation.

Katie sighed and continued down the corridor, when she caught her foot on the corner of the fading, red rug lining her pathway. Unable to keep balance, Katie flew through the air and landed in a heap on the floor next to the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw. She sat up, but the force of gravity pulled her back down again causing her to fall backwards and at the same time, hit her head hard on the corner of the statue. Katie didn't have time to make a noise as all of a sudden she heard footsteps, getting nearer and nearer accompanied by the occasional giggle.

"I recognise that laugh!" thought Katie, standing up. Her thoughts were confirmed as Kate and Louise came dawdling around the corner, arm in arm. Katie frowned at Kate, "I thought I was her best friend," she whispered.

"Hiya guys," Katie said happily, greeting her friends but she was ignored. "Fine then," said Katie, "Hey Kate, did you get a dress?" she asked, again no reply. "What is going on?" shouted Katie as she watched her two friends march down the corridor.

She decided to follow. Eventually the three girls ended up in the Transfiguration class room where Katie watched Louise and Kate sit down at the back desk, she went to join them.

"Louise what are you doing?" she asked, Louise turned to face her but appeared to be staring right through her as if she were invisible. Katie spun round on the spot towards the direction Louise was looking in, stood at the front of the classroom was Sam.

"Hey Sam, didn't see you come in," laughed Katie, but Sam remained silent. "OK, what the hell is going on here!" she screamed, unable to keep her cool any longer. Katie stomped over to Sam and stood face to face with him. "Sam, why are you ignoring me?" she asked angrily, but Sam just stared straight through her. Katie was furious, but then Sam started to speak.

"Hey Louise, Kate," he said,

"Hi," they both replied,

"I think you know why you're here?"

"Yes, to talk to you of course,"

"Very funny Louise. No the reason you are here is so I can perform a little experiment, oh don't worry Kate, it's for educational purposes." Katie seated herself next to Sam and observed what was going on.

"You see, I have this potions essay that needs handing in tomorrow and I have to write about an experiment I've done, so I thought I'd get you two lovely ladies to take part. I'd like to thank Louise for letting me do this on you."

Katie watched as Kate gave Louise a sarcastic smile before turning back to face Sam.

"What do you want us to do?" Louise asked nervously, as if she was having second thoughts about volunteering.

"Well," continued Sam, "It's only a small experiment, shouldn't take long. Kate, Louise could you come up here for a moment?"

The two girls stood up from their seats and slowly edged towards the front of the classroom, Katie noticed Kate looked incredibly scared, something she had never seen before. Louise on the other hand looked slightly calmer. Katie noticed that the table she had been leaning on was now covered with several different coloured potion bottles, some hissing and steaming and others making ominous bubbling noises.

"I don't like the look of this," Katie muttered, she would have told her friends to get out of here, but she realised that was a waste of time as they obviously weren't listening to her. Katie sat up and glanced over towards Sam, her stomach did a back flip and she ended up curling into a ball for a moment to rid her self of this sensation.

"Woah," she thought, "I wish I was doing this experiment." Then realising what she'd just said, Katie hit herself on the head and told herself 'not to be so stupid, looks aren't everything'.

"OK," said Sam, rubbing his hands together eagerly, "I'd like you both to choose a potion bottle off the table and drink it, I will then examine and analyse the results to use in my potions essay,"

"Is that all you want us to do?" queried Kate, sounding slightly relieved,

"Yep, that's all," replied Sam. Louise and Kate stepped forward and cast their gaze over each bottle, Louise soon decided upon a fluorescent pink potion that emitted glitter every so often. Kate gingerly picked up a green bottle that was hissing violently.

"KATE STOP!" Katie screamed, the potion she was about to drink was a deceasing potion, the liquid equivalent of the Avada Kedavra curse!

"KATE!" Katie shouted again, but Kate ignored her as if she didn't have a care in the world.

Katie grabbed hold of Kate's arm to pull her away from the table, except her hand went straight through Kate's school robes. Thinking she'd missed, Katie tried again but each time her hand went straight through Kate, it was as if she had turned into a hologram! Katie screamed as loud as she could but there wasn't even a flicker from either of her friends. Helpless, she watched as Kate downed the potion in one before staggering around the room, unable to regain control of her body. Katie ran over to help her friend but it was too late. Kate had fallen to the floor, a lifeless impression upon her face.

Katie woke up in the hospital wing. She had no idea what time it was or what on earth was happening. She pushed herself up and leant against the back of her bed, her head throbbing painfully. Katie turned to look in her bedside mirror and noticed she had a big bandage around her forehead and down on the floor she saw Louise and Kate asleep peacefully. Just as Katie was wondering how she got into the hospital wing everything suddenly came back to her. Her afternoon stroll down the corridor, the fall, Louise and Sam, the potions and Kate, Kate.

"Oh my God!" Katie exclaimed, "Kate! Sam! Oh my God!" There was a scuffle and a groan, then Kate sat up and looked up towards Katie.

"Katie!" she whispered, "How are you? We've been by your bed like all night!"

"What happened?" Katie asked confused, "Kate? Why are you here? Are you a ghost?" She picked up her glasses so she could focus better. Kate laughed and sat herself down on Katie's bed.

"A ghost?" she asked, "Why would I be a ghost? I think you must have had a bit of a nasty fall yesterday to be thinking things like that!"

"But yesterday, you, you, you-" Katie couldn't finish her sentence, "Kate what happened yesterday?"

"Me and Louise had just come back from Hogsmeade and we were going to the Ravenclaw Tower to find you but as we were walking along the corridor we found you lying on the floor. So we brought you straight here." Katie squinted her eyes at the sun that was starting to peep through the stain glass window,

"But what about Sam and his potions essay?"

"What?" replied Kate, "Sam and his potions essay? What's that got to do with yesterday?"

"I'm really confused," said Katie, "Yesterday I saw you and Louise go and meet Sam and he was doing a potions experiment and he made you drink some potions. I didn't see what happened to Louise but when you drank yours, you err, you died." Katie fell silent, as did Kate.

"I died?" she asked,

"Yeh," replied Katie, "It was awful." Slowly, tears began to prickle her eyes and she embraced Kate in a hug,

"Kate, I want you to know that I don't want anything to happen to you, ever."

Her tears seemed to be contagious as soon the two second years were both crying, upset as to what just happened and anxious as to what the future would hold...

** _ A/N_** Hope you liked it! Yes, I knwo the speed dating is a bit weird and a bit random, but wht the hec! I also apologise that this chapter ends on a bit of a sad note, but it has to be done somewhere! Please review, I appreciate it! 


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